Between 2022 and 2023, as many as 170 rare and valuable editions of Russian classics were stolen from libraries across Europe, in a series of thefts that authorities describe as unprecedented in scale and sophistication. The stolen books, valued at over £2.5 million, include works by Alexander Pushkin and Nikolai Gogol.
The most recent theft occurred on 16 October 2023 at the University of Warsaw library in Poland, where a young man and woman used fake identities to access rare 19th-century editions. They stole five books, including Pushkin's 'The Robber Brothers', and were later found to have taken 74 more over preceding weeks, replacing them with high-quality facsimiles to avoid detection. The books lacked magnetic security strips due to concerns about damage to the paper.
The Warsaw heist was the final stop in a crime spree that began in spring 2022, targeting libraries in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, the Czech Republic, France, Switzerland, Germany, and elsewhere. Thieves used similar tactics: posing as researchers with fake identities, distracting librarians, and stealing books from closed stacks. In Riga, a suspect was arrested in December 2022 after his DNA was found on books left behind.
Prosecutors across Europe are collaborating to track the thieves, who are believed to be part of an organised network. 'Libraries just aren’t used to thinking of themselves as targets for major crime,' said Laura Bellen, an Estonian prosecutor. The stolen books are considered part of Europe's cultural heritage, with Polish chief prosecutor Bartosz Jandy noting that they 'belong to our heritage' despite their Russian imperial origins.
