Russia has said around 24,500 valuable items have been stolen from museums across the country.

Another 219,000 items have been found 'absent for unknown reasons', with mismanagement being a likely culprit, Lyubov Molchanova, an expert from the cultural ministry, was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

Russia's interior and cultural ministries conducted a joint audit of the treasures in museums across the country after three major robberies occurred recently in the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg.

A total of 1,881 museums, collectively holding 73 million items, were inspected.

Molchanova said some missing items might be actually still stocked in the museums but 'just had been forgotten'.

She referred to disorderly work and mismanagement as a reason for the mess, adding that some items were transferred to state institutions, which had refused to return them.