Russian plans to “evacuate” treasures from occupied Crimea

Russian authorities may steal Ukrainian valuables from museums of Crimea and other occupied territories under the pretext of "evacuation," Ukraine's Ministry of Culture says, citing the General Staff. This is a war crime, the Ukrainian Ministry says, appealing to UNESCO for help, and calling to expel Russia from the organization. The plan of "external evacuation" from Crimean museums to Russian territory envisions that the most valuable items, like archaeological finds of precious metals, will be "evacuated" first. Ukraine's Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko noted that there are over 30 museums in the occupied Crimea, which hold 1.2 million exhibits worth millions to hundreds of millions.

Crimea’s occupied cultural heritage

The Culture Ministry has appealed to UNESCO and other international organizations to prevent yet another violation of international law by the aggressor state.

"UNESCO can help, firstly, in preventing the illegal trafficking of museum valuables, secondly, the very fact of recording war crimes is important, and thirdly, we call to refuse cooperating with Russia, its museums and to expel the Russian Federation from UNESCO, at least from its governing bodies," says Oleksandr Tkachenko.

Making Russia answer for destroying cultural heritage in Ukraine

Russians stole treasures from 40 Ukrainian museums, including golden diadem of the Huns

Crimean gold must return to Ukraine – Dutch court