Prime Minister Antonis Samaras commented on Friday on the British Museum’s decision to loan one of the Parthenon Marbles, the headless statue of a Greek river-god, to Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Mr. Samaras stated that this decision is a provocation for Greeks. More specifically he stressed that the British Museum’s doctrine that the Parthenon Sculptures cannot be moved is no longer valid in the same way that their previous argument for the lack of appropriate space collapsed with the opening of the Acropolis Museum.

The Prime Minister also underlined the following: “The Parthenon and its sculptures have been looted. The value of the sculptures is beyond measure. As Greeks, we are identified with our history and civilization, which cannot be hack to pieces, lent or conceded.”