Serbia's interior minister has announced that two paintings by Pablo Picasso stolen from a Swiss exhibition have been recovered in Belgrade.

Ivica Dacic said Wednesday the paintings, Tete de Cheval and Verre et Pichet , belong to the Sprengel Museum in Hannover, Germany. They were stolen in February 2008 while on loan to a cultural center in the Swiss town of Pfaeffikon, near Zurich.

Dacic says the artworks, worth millions of dollars, were found in a joint operation between Swiss and Serbian police. Authorities are investigating how the paintings came into Serbia and where they were hidden.

Switzerland has submitted a formal request for Serbia to return the paintings.