Rumors in Moscow have long swirled around art historian Nina Moleva’s mysterious collection, which she claimed included works by Rembrandt, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci.

The Fantasists Who Fooled Putin

In 2024, the Russian president was left a mysterious art collection said to be worth $2 billion. Is he the world’s luckiest dictator or the heir to a hoarder’s junk pile?

By George Nelson

For years, a Moscow widow claimed she was leaving Vladimir Putin one of the world’s greatest art collections: more than 1,000 objects, supposedly worth $2 billion, including works attributed to Leonardo, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Rubens, and Velázquez.

The bequest was taken so seriously that a 24-hour police detail was stationed on the street outside her apartment, while city officials relocated her upstairs neighbors in case their plumbing leaked. Putin himself acknowledged the bequest, signing a directive to accept it as state property, and to find a building in which to exhibit it.