Who is behind the mass theft of rare books by Russian classics in Europe?

Works of famous Russian classics began to disappear from university libraries in Europe. The amount of damage is estimated at 2.5 million pounds (about 275.1 million rubles). Books by our writers, including AS Pushkin and NV Gogol, are disappearing from the shelves in Finland, the Czech Republic, Paris, Switzerland, Germany and other countries.

A major investigation began in 2023, but only in 2025 did the situation become clear. Mikhail Zamtaradze, who was arrested at Brussels airport in November 2023, appeared in court. He was accused of stealing 17 books worth more than 600 thousand euros (about 57.1 million rubles). He did not deny the crime. Zamtaradze cited the desire to earn a living by selling and buying rare items as justification for his actions. She said she didn’t work anywhere, raised five children and was on welfare; Naturally, there is not enough money.

But the legend seemed implausible to researchers. According to The Guardian, Zamtaradze acted professionally, traveling freely throughout Europe (as evidenced by GPS data) and staying in hotels; This was completely different from a father who had many children and was broke.

Library staff agreed to investigate. According to them, Zamtaradze captivated them with his charm and silently moved stacks of books to confuse them. One day, a suspect committed theft by hiding the pages with a bandage with his broken arm. It turned out that he had skillfully replaced the originals with fakes. Zamtaradze printed copies of the title pages of the books on a color printer and took them with him to work.

In June 2025, Zamtaradze was convicted and sentenced to 3.4 years in prison. At the end of the trial, it emerged that the man had not acted alone but as “part of an organized group whose members attempted to carry out a pre-planned plan to steal and exchange books by dividing roles among themselves”.

It turned out that Mikhail Zamtaradze runs the group together with Beka Tsirekidze. The second one was detained in 2022. According to the investigation, he had experience in the antique trade and had a criminal record for theft. His DNA also matched DNA found at a crime scene in Estonia, where he was extradited for trial in April 2022.

Among the most popular books stolen by the criminal group: “The History of Pugachev”, “Prisoner of the Caucasus”, “Boris Godunov” and rare collections of poems by Pushkin.

If you want to find out why Russian writers attract the attention of foreign readers and which of their works are read in schools and universities abroad, check out our selection.

Source: People Talk