The return of religious relics to the Russian...

The statement comes as the government works on a bill to return religious archives, relics and buildings to their original owners. The controversial bill has never been made public, "but rumors have been swirling around that it bodes ill for museums," Gagarina said.

"We already lost a significant number of cultural objects during the [October] Revolution, the Russian Civil War and the Great Patriotic War (WWII). We also lost numerous cultural items, which were returned to the church in the 1990s, and it seems that these losses will continue," she added.

In a letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Russian museum workers said last week that only 2% of all ancient Russian artifacts managed to survive through centuries, and even those may be lost forever.

They cite an example of 15-th century wall frescoes by legendary Russian icon painter Andrei Rublev in the Russian cities of Vladimir and Zvenigorod near Moscow, which were lost due to humidity, draughts and

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