MOSCOW.- An employee at the Hermitage Museum in Moscow died when a check discovered the missing of over 200 articles, Russian web edition of Gazeta Ru announced. The Hermitage -- housed in the ornate Winter Palace of the Russian czars in St. Petersburg, overlooking the Neva River -- said museum employees were likely involved in the thefts.

The museum said the curator in charge of most of the collection where the theft occurred died suddenly at his workplace when the check began and that his colleagues had discovered the items were missing. The museum did not say when or how he died. "There are many strange aspects of this affair, but unfortunately, there is no doubt that it did not happen without the participation of museum staff," the statement said.

The museum also said it was trying to modernize its system for monitoring visitors and employees, and acknowledged that most of the premises were not fully secured. Many of the building's more than 1,000 rooms have inadequate ventilation and security systems; museum employees, for example, often have to open windows for fresh air.

"Unfortunately", it has been not an "isolated" case of theft of museum items from the Hermitage funds, Rosokhrankultura Head Boris Boyarskov, announced. 'These facts prove poor state of safety of our national heritage. It is high time to make serious conclusions from that,' the inspectorate head believes.