On 20 June 2007, the Press Service of the State Hermitage released the following communique:

In connection with the publication in the newspaper Delovoy Peterburg (Nr 104 (2426) 14.06.2007) of an article by M. Yatsko devoted to the privatization of the Special Scientific Restoration Workshops of the State Hermitage and entitled “The Committee for Managing State Property (KUGI) is selling a facility. An admission pass to the Hermitage will be sold under the auction hammer,” the State Hermitage states the following:

A word about the background of this issue: The enterprise was created as a separate legal entity on December 5, 1991. The Articles of Incorporation of the enterprise indicate that the functions of founder are carried out by the federal body for managing state property and the executive arm of government in accordance with the valid legislation. The basis for locating the Special Scientific Restoration Workshops of the State Hermitage within the grounds of the Hermitage is a rental contract concluded in the manner prescribed by law. On the basis of civil law contracts, the enterprise performs orders from the State Hermitage for restoration of objects from the collection and restoration of the interiors of the museum. Alongside orders from the Hermitage, the Workshops carry out restoration work for other entities as well. In other words, the State Hermitage is not the founder of the Workshops and its relations with the organization are governed by civil law contracts.

In accordance with the Proposed Plan of Privatization of Federal Property in 2007 and on the basis of the Instructions of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 25.08.2006 ¹ 1184-š, the State enterprise ‘Special Scientific and Restoration Workshops of the State Hermitage' is being privatized by its conversion into an Open Joint-stock Company. The founder of the new Company is the Russian Federation as represented by the Federal Agency for Management of Federal Property.

Taking into account that as they prepare for privatization the Workshops have among their employees highly qualified specialists possessing many years of experience working with the exhibit items of the State Hermitage and bearing in mind a request from the restorers themselves, the State Hermitage has decided to establish employment positions within its staff for specialist restorers coming from the privatized enterprise. This decision will make it possible to avoid dispersing the staff potential of the restorers and will largely provide for restoration of museum items using the museum's own forces, without the need to bring in outside organizations having unproven reputations.