MOSCOW, September 29 - RAPSI, Irina Tumilovich. The court has extended until December 24 the arrest of the deputy director of the State Tretyakov Gallery who has been accused of stealing $2.7 million in his previous job, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI) on Thursday.

"A Moscow district court extended Oleg Belikov's detention for another three months upon the investigators' request," the court said.

Investigators maintain that Belikov, his deputy and other accomplices used false documents and won a public contract for apartment house repairs as a state-run enterprise's general director in 2008. The contract amount exceeded 117 million rubles ($3.7 million), but only 30 million rubles ($943,000) went toward repair works, while the rest was embezzled.

The Interior Ministry has stated on several occasions that Belikovs prosecution was not related to his work at the art museum, although it voiced its apprehensions that he may commit similar offenses in his present capacity.