More than 170 precious volumes of Russian classics of the 19th century have disappeared without a trace from the book depositories of Europe. Europol detained nine people allegedly involved in the theft.
The library of the University of Warsaw suffered the greatest damage. 78 books were stolen from her collection, each of which is valued at tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Among the stolen masterpieces are works by Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol, Ivan Krylov, Mikhail Lermontov and other literary pillars. The attackers skillfully replaced some of the books with copies, which only specialists could distinguish from the originals.
The motives and identities of the kidnappers remain a mystery. A large-scale investigation is being conducted by law enforcement agencies, MIR 24 reports citing The New York Times.