On Tuesday, half of council members failed to attend the scheduled meeting.

Board chair Krista Nelson said one member is on vacation but two others chose not to attend. They are reportedly dissatisfied with decisions made during previous meetings and have refused to sign the meeting minutes.

"They believe that the decisions are not legitimate and that the annual report should not be approved. They point to certain financial difficulties, which the state representatives do not agree with at all. To be honest, I do not know what their concern is. They also refuse to meet with us or discuss the issue," said Nelson.

The council members who are distancing themselves from the process, city councilors Aleksei Mägi and Vadim Orlov, have previously attracted public attention.

In the spring, they criticized museum director Maria Smorževskihh-Smirnova for setting up an exhibition commemorating the 1944 March bombing and claimed that the museum's financial situation was troubling.

At that time, the minister of culture called for Orlov and Mägi to be removed from the board, but the museum council opted to try and maintain peace.

"The work of the Narva Museum is severely disrupted, and the city of Narva has done nothing to resolve the problem. It is within the city's power, as the founder, to communicate with its council members. If it becomes clear that the council members do not want to participate in the meetings, then new members must be appointed," Nelson said.

Orlov and Mägi said they viewed the situation as an internal council matter, and citing a desire for workplace peace, declined to comment further.

Narva Mayor Jaan Toots, who is currently on a business trip, said that he is aware of the conflicts within the museum council but believes they can only be resolved through negotiations between the founding parties.

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