October 2023. A security camera in the University of Warsaw library records what initially appears to be a routine scene in the rare book vault. In hindsight, it's now known that the man and woman posing as researchers of Russian literary classics were part of an international network that stole at least 170 historical works across Europe using the same methods — totaling a value of €2.5 million.

"Often, when I talk about this, it sounds unusual because we really haven't seen much of this type of crime," said Estonian district prosecutor Laura Bellen.

"The feeling is certainly not pleasant. And it leaves a lasting impression — there's no doubt about that — because libraries are, by nature, very open institutions," said Jaanika Anderson, director of the University of Tartu Library.

It later emerged that the University of Tartu Library was among the first targets where the thieves fine-tuned their methods. Documents show that on April 12, 2022, two men entered the rare books room and introduced themselves as researchers of Russian classical literature who had arrived in Estonia as refugees from the war in Ukraine. The older man gave his name as Olegs Krupenins and his younger companion was Nikita Simončuks.

"They expressed interest in viewing works by Pushkin and Gogol, which they gradually requested and studied. The older man said he was supporting his younger relative who hoped to do research and continue on to an American university," Anderson recalled.

Library rules prohibit checking out rare books and at least one staff member is always present in the reading room. Remarkably, between April 12 and 22, the two men returned multiple times, supposedly to continue their research, spending several hours in the room on each visit.

"They were photographing the books with their phones, which isn't prohibited. They flipped through the books, browsed them, made it look like they were reading. They seemed like genuine researchers," said Anderson.

Staff recalled that the "researchers" left somewhat suddenly and without saying goodbye. At first, this wasn't seen as suspicious — until another visitor requested a copy of Gogol's "Mirgorod" in August of that same year. When the book was retrieved from the vault, it was discovered that instead of the nearly 200-year-old volume, there was a counterfeit — one with a seemingly authentic cover and title page but containing entirely unrelated German-language content. A bad feeling set in.

"We then pulled out all the other books those same individuals had accessed and that's when we realized the full scale of it. It just as easily could've been another 20 years before anyone noticed that the books had been switched," Anderson said.

Prosecutor Laura Bellen from the South District Prosecutor's Office admitted the discovery was a stroke of luck. For example, the Gogol volume in question had last been requested 20 years earlier and some had never been requested at all. After inventory, it was revealed that seven Pushkin works and one by Gogol had been replaced with forgeries.

"The books bore the university and library stamps. In one witness statement, someone even noted that the books appeared old because they were soiled or had been made to look that way," said Anderson.

"They clearly knew books well. They knew what to look for and what signs to replicate in a copied edition. Forgeries can certainly be identified, but in this case, it wasn't immediately obvious or easy," she added.

The missing books were early 19th-century editions — some dating from Pushkin's own lifetime — of which only a few hundred copies were originally printed. Perhaps just a few dozen still survive today worldwide and they can fetch tens of thousands of euros at auction.

Another coincidence soon followed. After the theft was discovered, library staff member Moonika Teemus attended an international librarians' meeting in Vienna.

"There, someone brought up that books had been stolen from the Latvian National Library. When the name Pushkin was mentioned, some connections began to emerge — could this be the work of an organized group?" said Anderson.

It turned out that on April 23 — just one day after the fake researchers vanished from Tartu — the younger thief walked out of the Latvian National Library with three valuable Russian books hidden under his sweater. Because the missing volumes were quickly noticed in Latvia, an investigation was launched. Authorities identified the same duo seen in Tartu, but it hadn't yet become clear that they were operating across multiple countries.

The older man was arrested in Riga in fall 2022 and it was revealed that his real name was Beqa Tsirekidze.

The 48-year-old father of six and grandfather of six is currently in prison. He claims to be a bibliophile and a member of the Georgian Writers' Union, assisting his half-sister's son in his research. According to unconfirmed reports, the younger man is now being pursued by Georgian law enforcement. Tsirekidze gave conflicting statements — on one hand, claiming he knew nothing about the thefts, and on the other, suggesting the books might have been stolen by dishonest library staff.

That's hard to believe, considering Tsirekidze was convicted of book theft in Georgia in 2016. When arrested in Riga, he was found in possession of forged documents, including a Slovenian ID card in the name "Josif Samueli," and a range of tools that could be used for both restoring and forging books.

The first report in Estonia of what would later be called the "heist of the century at the University of Tartu Library" appeared in Õhtuleht on December 20, 2022. Staff at Tallinn University Library read the article and recognized the same supposed researcher of Pushkin-era literature had visited them as well.

In Tallinn, the rules had been more lenient. The man was allowed to check out 10 antique books worth a total of €53,000. Despite reminders, he never returned them and it was only then that Tallinn University realized they, too, had fallen victim to the same thieves.

At that point, no one in Estonia yet knew one of the suspects had already been apprehended in Latvia. A major breakthrough came via DNA. In Tartu, the man known as Olegs Krupenins had handled the books with bare hands.

"Cotton gloves can actually damage the pages — they can catch on them. Luckily, they looked at the books with bare hands, so DNA was recovered from one of the book covers," said Anderson.

"The most conclusive evidence would have been security camera footage, but unfortunately, that had not been preserved. However, the forged books were still there, as was the information those two criminals had provided to the library. Fortunately, DNA was obtained from the books themselves. And largely thanks to that DNA and international cooperation, we were able to identify Beqa Tsirekidze," said Bellen.

In spring 2023, Tsirekidze was sentenced in Latvia to six months in prison for book theft, which he had already served during pretrial detention. He was then extradited to Estonia. Here, he was also convicted and sentenced to a total of three years and three months, which he is now serving in Tartu Prison.

The University of Tartu Library reported losses of €158,000; Tallinn University's damages totaled €71,000. In her ruling, the judge compared the crime to the Hollywood film "The Thomas Crown Affair."

By comparing the results of the investigations conducted later in Tartu, Tallinn and Riga, authorities concluded that Tsirekidze and his accomplice had traveled between the three cities in March, April and May 2022, stealing antique books by the armful.

Here's where the story takes another twist: the Baltic states had been a training ground. It later became clear that from 2022 to 2023, the same group carried out similar thefts in major European cities — from Helsinki to Paris — stealing at least 170 Russian literary classics worth €2.5 million. The crime wave was so extensive that several major media outlets covered it, including BBC journalist Nina Nazarova.

In many cases, books were swapped out with forgeries; in others, they were smuggled out hidden under clothing. The largest single haul came in October 2023 at the University of Warsaw Library, where 78 books worth nearly €1 million went missing.

By that time, Beqa Tsirekidze was already in prison in Estonia. Investigators believe the network involved around ten people. In Warsaw, the "literary researchers" were Tsirekidze's son Mate Tsirekidze and daughter-in-law Anna Gogoladze.

Tsirekidze has stated that the stolen books were sold to private collectors in Russia. In some cases, there is evidence the missing books were seen at auctions in St. Petersburg and Moscow. In 2024, Europol finally formed an international task force and, as part of "Operation Pushkin," four more members of the theft ring were arrested in Latvia and Georgia last April. Authorities also confiscated 150 historical books. Experts are now evaluating whether any of them had been stolen from Tartu or Tallinn three years earlier.

Since the unprecedented crime spree, both Estonian and European rare book collections have tightened their regulations significantly. For example, the University of Tartu's rare book room has reduced the number of reading desks for better oversight and researchers are now provided with digital copies instead of physical originals.

According to Georgian prosecutors, five of their nationals have already been convicted, with two others currently on trial. Beqa Tsirekidze will likely be extradited to France after serving his sentence in Estonia, where he faces similar charges.

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