ST. PETERSBURG.- It has now been reported that the 220 works stolen from State Hermitage Museum were not insured because they were in storage. The museum stated they only insure items that are on exhibit. Russian newspaper Izvestia reported the value of the works stolen is around $107 million. The initial reports suggested a value of around $4.8 million.

A museum spokesman said: "There are many strange things in this affair. An employee working on the collection died suddenly at the beginning of the inspection. The other supervisors discovered the disappearance whilst continuing the inspection."

Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of the St Petersburg museum, said, "It is clear that without the involvement of museum staff, this could not have happened. It is a stab in the back of the Hermitage that casts a shadow on the prestige of the museum."