Russian Museum Workers Steal 164 Artifacts from Crimea - Ukraine Intel

Museum workers from Russia have stolen at least 164 archaeological valuables from Crimea, including artifacts found during excavations of the ancient cities of Nymphaeum and Pantikapaeum.

This was reported by the press service of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, which released data on the activities of 14 Russian museum workers who are engaged in propaganda and facilitate the theft of Ukrainian cultural property in the temporarily occupied territories.

Since 2022, Russian museums have been organizing exhibitions, lectures, and educational programs aimed at legitimizing the occupation and integrating Ukrainian museums into the Russian cultural space.

Among those responsible are Iryna Zhukova, director of the All-Russian Museum of History and Ethnography, and Alexander Shkolnik, director of the Museum of the Great Patriotic War. The list of "heritage thieves" also includes Serhiy Naryshkin and his organizations operating in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

The data on 996 stolen objects and 260 people involved in the robberies and distortion of history are collected on the War&Sanctions portal. The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine emphasized that all those trying to destroy the Ukrainian national identity will be held justly accountable.

In December last year, Russian occupants stole a painting by the outstanding artist Mykhailo Andrienko-Nechytailo "Landscape of Paris". Now this painting, stolen from the collection of the Kherson Regional Art Museum named after O. Shovkunenko, is illegally in the occupied Crimea, in the Simferopol Central Museum of Tavrida.

In January, the former secretary of the Kherson Diocese of the UOC-MP, Maksym Tarasenko, supported the occupiers and began to cooperate with them after the start of the full-scale invasion. In particular, he organized services for the Russian military and received icons stolen by the occupiers from the churches of the region.

Recently, in the temporarily occupied Crimea, Russian "restorers" destroyed unique frescoes while working on the Khan's Palace in Bakhchisarai. This became possible because the occupiers did not engage professional restorers but hired cheap labor without experience working with cultural monuments.

Анна Бальчінос