Russia's two main museums have announced that they are handing over two of their most famous artifacts to the Church. Art experts denounce a political approach jeopardizing the future of precious and fragile pieces.
The presidential donations come amid Moscow's offensive in Ukraine, backed by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, an ally of Putin. But art experts are above all alarmed by the danger hanging over the works transferred to the church, where conditions of conservation will be less professional than at the museums.