The U.S. ambassador to Russia says a stolen silver medallion that belonged to the last Russian Czar has been recovered from an online auction by U.S. investigators and returned to Moscow.
Ambassador John Beyrle said on Thursday that what he called the “detective story” of the recovery of the rare artefact signalled increasing trust and cooperation between Moscow and Washington.
The medallion that bears a portrait of Czar Peter the Great once belonged to the family of Russia’s last Czar, Nicolas II, before it was stolen from the State Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg.
A 2006 check showed that some 200 exhibits, including jewellery and icons worth $5 million, were stolen from Russia’s largest museum.
