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Russia announced Tuesday that it would return to Germany six 14th-century stained glass windows taken from a church by the Red Army during World War II.
The medieval windows were removed from the Marienkirche church in the northeast city of Frankfurt an der Oder and are now housed at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.
"The six stained glass windows from the Marienkirche church considered missing have been discovered in the Pushkin Museum which is preparing to display them before returning them to Germany," said Russian Culture Minister Alexander Sokolov, during a press conference in Moscow.
He added that an expert had confirmed that the works came from the German church.
Last June, a few days after being laid off, a former museum associate told journalists that the stained glass works had been discovered in 2001 in a storage facility of the culture ministry in Zagorsk, north of Moscow.
Sokolov also said Tuesday that a definitive decision on whether Moscow would restore to Berlin the "Baldine collection" -- which includes drawings by such masters as Durer, Degas, Monet, Rembrandt, Rubens and Van Gogh -- would be taken during negotiations with his German counterpart to be held at the end of the month at Tomsk, in Siberia.
Russia and Germany have for several years reached mutual agreements on returning artworks confiscated during World War II.
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Russia-Germany-art
AFP 111846 GMT 04 06
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