The United States on Thursday returned home a stolen silver pendant that once belonged to Russia's last tsar and surfaced on a online auction site last year with a starting price of $500.
In a conciliatory gesture, U.S. Ambassador John Beyrle handed the pendant to Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin in a small ceremony that brought U.S. lawmen and Russian cultural agents to the ambassador's Spaso House residence just off Arbat.
"This is not just a story about a small medallion, it is also a big example of successful cooperation that is building a better relationship," Beyrle said.
The pendant was among more than 200 items that authorities say were stolen four years ago by a married Russian couple working at St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum, the Winter Palace of the tsars. It emerged on a U.S. auction site late last year.
Russian investigators had asked the United States to recover the pendant, which is 2.6 centimeters long and 1.7 centimeters wide and depicts a tiny portrait of 18th-century Tsar Peter the Great.
"We were able to locate the individual who had it, seize it and bring it back home," said Special-Agent-in-Charge Leigh Winchell, adding that it was found in the northwestern U.S. state of Washington.
He refused to identify who had the piece but said legal action against the person would take place.
The Federal Service for the Protection of Cultural Heritage said the pendant once belonged to Tsar Nicholas II, who was killed by the Bolsheviks after they swept to power in 1918.
It was among 220 items stolen from the Hermitage by the couple, said Alexander Kibovsky, the agency's head.
He added that the cash value of the pendant, which shows the long-haired, moustachioed Peter the Great clad in armor, was about $5,000, but that it was the cultural significance for Russians that made it "invaluable."
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