Occupation museums in Crimea prepare lawsuit to return Scythian gold to Ukraine

The occupation museums of Crimea have announced their intention to file a lawsuit in a Russian court over Ukraine's illegal retention of Scythian gold, which was returned from the Netherlands in November 2023. The collection was previously taken to Amsterdam for an exhibition before the occupation of the peninsula in 2014 and is now stored at the National Museum of History of Ukraine.

This was reported by the Center for Investigative Journalism.

The director of the occupation Central Museum of Tavrida, Andriy Malgin, said that the occupation "authorities" had created a working group of lawyers and museum representatives to "return the property." According to him, a lawsuit will be filed in a Russian court demanding that Ukraine recognize the "illegal retention" of the collection items. He did not name specific deadlines for filing the documents, but emphasized that the issue would not be ignored and that sooner or later the situation would "change."

Back in 2016, the District Court of Amsterdam ruled to return the Scythian gold to Ukraine in accordance with the UNESCO Convention, which guarantees the return of temporarily transferred artistic property to the owner state.

Despite attempts by Crimean museums to appeal this decision in the Netherlands, in 2021 and 2023, the Dutch Courts of Appeal and the Supreme Court finally confirmed Ukraine's right to the collection. Only at the end of November 2023, exhibits from the Crimea: Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea exhibition returned to Ukraine and were placed in the National Museum of History of Ukraine.

The new attempt by the occupation "authorities" of Crimea to challenge the return of Scythian gold to Russia underscores the ongoing confrontation over cultural heritage that continues even almost a decade after the illegal annexation of the peninsula.

On July 5, 2024, the National Museum of History of Ukraine opened the exhibition "Treasures of Crimea. The Return". The exhibition featured more than five hundred exhibits known as "Scythian gold" that were returned to Ukraine from the Netherlands after almost 10 years of litigation. These are ancient Greek, ancient Roman, late Scythian, Sarmatian, Hun and Gothic items found during the XIX-XXI centuries during archaeological research in Crimea.

Анна Бальчінос