The paintings and statues were on their way back to Russia from museum exhibits in Italy and Japan.
Three shipments of Russian art en route to Moscow and St. Petersburg from Italy and Japan, where they were loaned out for museum exhibitions, were detained by Finnish customs last week as part of European Union sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine, officials said. Last month, the State Hermitage Museum reportedly asked museums in Italy to return artwork on loan from Russia in late March ahead of schedule for some of the pieces, according to The Guardian.
