Overview
- Nine Napoleonic jewels were stolen from the Louvre on October 19, one damaged crown was later recovered, and the famed Regent diamond remained in place.
- Prosecutors say the theft took about four minutes and involved four people who accessed a window via an aerial platform and cut the glass with a grinder.
- A RIA Novosti reporter found fake listings on the French Vinted site purporting to sell the stolen pieces, and the platform was removing the posts.
- Russia’s cultural envoy Mikhail Shvydkoy called the operation likely commissioned and argued the Regent diamond was left because such an iconic stone is effectively unsellable.
- Shvydkoy described the crime as symbolically akin to an attack on France and criticized security shortcomings, while media reports estimate losses at about €88 million and he dismissed Pavel Durov’s buyback idea as unrealistic.