Auction of Soviet art triggers probe; art market on guard
(World News Russia)

MOSCOW (AP) -- The sale of nine Soviet-era masterpieces that fetched $3 million at a London auction in 2014 is causing uproar in Moscow's art community, where it was largely perceived as a theft of the family jewels. The sale of the paintings, one of which now has a place of pride in a Moscow oligarch's private museum, has triggered a criminal investigation. There also has been a push to re-nationalize the collection that once belonged to a Soviet artists' trade union. The dispute has also made it much more difficult to move Russian art across the border for sales or exhibitions. In recent months, several Ministry of Culture officials were fired, rules were tightened on the...