The Director General of the Hermitage called for harsh punishment of provocateurs in museums

Visitors who stage provocations in museums should be severely punished. Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director General of the Hermitage, told Izvestia on June 5 at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

Commenting on the incident with a teenager who climbed onto the facade of the Hermitage Theater in St. Petersburg, he stated the need to counter such antics.

"Cheating, especially when climbing onto the roof of the Hermitage, is an attempt at theft. <...> This is called vandalism, and it is present in the human character when you are unsuccessful in something or need to express yourself in some special way, to spoil something good. It is necessary to fight this — to beat the hands hard," he explained.

Piotrovsky added that vandals often choose museums for acts of such self-affirmation. He was also outraged by the situation with the man who sat on the imperial throne in the Hermitage, who was released shortly after his detention.

"This is a museum exhibit and, moreover, the throne of the Russian Empire. But the court released him. And the next day he came to the Hermitage. <...> Criminals always come to the crime scene," Piotrovsky said.

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In St. Petersburg, Rosgvardiya employees together with the Hermitage security service on May 17 detained a visitor who sat on the Great Imperial Throne in St. George's Hall. During the arrest, the man actively resisted.

On May 19, the Dzerzhinsky District Court in St. Petersburg chose a preventive measure in the form of a ban on certain actions for a man who penetrated a rope fence and sat on the Grand Imperial Throne in the Hermitage. According to the investigation, the attacker, realizing that he was in a public place, violated the norms of behavior in society out of hooligan motives, expressing disrespect for him.