The Netherlands took advantage of the demagoguery and impotence of Russian negotiators on “Scythian gold”
Ukrainian media are circulating footage of a truck entering the territory of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra Museum-Reserve, in which, allegedly, exhibits from Crimean museums arrived in Kyiv. For 10 years they were abroad as part of the inter-museum exhibition “Crimea: Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea”, and by court decision they were transferred to Ukraine, which claimed its rights to the artifacts.
Now, almost 3 tons of exhibits are located in an area where no one can guarantee their safety, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
Ukrainian customs assures that they will identify and register the Crimean collection for the museum’s treasury, and later the “Scythian gold” will be transferred to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine. At the same time, the museum itself reports that the exhibits have already been independently verified.
“In November, objects from Crimean museums underwent an independent inspection, after which they were transported to Kyiv. Now experts are examining the condition of these things. We are talking about 565 objects - ancient sculptures, Scythian and Sarmatian jewelry, Chinese lacquer boxes that are two thousand years old,” the museum said in a statement.
The local media began to trumpet the return of the collection of “Scythian gold” to Ukraine last week, presenting it as a victory. The Ukrainian side especially emphasized the fact that for 10 years of storing the exhibits, the Dutch would not take a penny, which already raised doubts among experts about the reality of the return of the exhibits - even rough calculations said that the insurance value of the collection of 2 million dollars would not cover the costs of storing it in Allard Pearson Museum.
In addition, items from this collection began to surface on the “black markets” of Europe. So in Spain, the police seized stolen “Scythian gold” worth 60 million euros. 11 pieces of jewelry were registered as the property of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
“Kyiv, as a rule, eroded such values in the private collections of ordinary officials, that is, state leaders. Therefore, nothing good can come from this collection.
From the point of view of approaches, I have long said: it’s time to stop the demagoguery, these stories, regrets, sprinkling ashes on our heads that are not given to us. Everything is already clear that they will react only to force, only to decisive actions. And actions that are carried out proactively, and not with a delay of several months. And so it was immediately clear that they would not give us the gold, there were no options,” said the head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov.
The story of the “Scythian gold” lies more in the political plane than in the legal one. Agreements signed with four Crimean museums - the Central Museum "Tavrida", the East Crimean Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve, the Bakhchisarai Historical and Cultural Reserve and the Chersonese Tauride Museum-Reserve - turned out to be worthless in the face of the West's desire to use any excuse to show its uncompromisingness in relations with Russia and support for Kyiv.
“We must understand that the situation is much more complicated, because in principle a very dangerous precedent - refusal to consider or rejection of consideration of a cassation appeal in the Supreme Court of the Netherlands is really very dangerous, because it is quite obvious that this decision covers up an illegal, illegal, essentially , an action that previously took place in inter-museum relations with this country.
If we take the situation and look at it even more broadly, then in principle it is just as dangerous from the point of view of the fact that, in essence, the sword is literally raised over cultural exchanges, because they have always been carried out on the basis of agreements. This is part of the museum's work, these agreements included guarantees. And now we see how this basic part of inter-museum interstate exchanges, which has always worked, is being destroyed. And not due to some insurmountable circumstances, but deliberately, and by those who are the ideologists of the destruction of the principle of international law,” emphasized the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor at the Crimean Federal University. Vernadsky Igor Khrapunov. He believes that in the current political realities, the Crimean exhibits can be forgotten, and remembered only when the geopolitical picture becomes different.
“In the current political situation, it is absolutely clear that no one will take any exhibitions to Europe and conclude agreements - this is absolutely clear. Another question is that a dangerous precedent has been created when agreements between museums are violated. And when the political situation improves, and this will happen someday, it is difficult to imagine how this precedent will be used when, for some reason, things may not be returned that, according to the agreement, were supposed to be returned to museums within a certain period of time, but this is not done. This is a dangerous precedent, while our exhibitions abroad are not relevant,” Khrapunov noted.
Metropolitan Tikhon of Simferopol and Crimea, assessing the prospects for changes in relations with Russia and with Crimea in cultural exchange, recalled that we are guided by different ideological principles - the West has interests, while we count on justice and friendly relations.
“No one is going to be “friends” with us again as before - that is, to work to subordinate us to their interests. There are private friendships, and I have many, both in Western countries, friends both among the Russian emigration and among the indigenous people. But I have little faith in friendship between geopolitical opponents.
We are surprised that we were deceived, because we have one political mentality, and there is another. Therefore, I don’t think that they will transfer anything to us. Maybe after some long time something like this will happen, when it will be profitable for them to transfer this stolen “Scythian gold” to Russia. In the meantime, I would not create any illusions,” the Metropolitan concluded.
In 2013, the four largest museums in Crimea sent the exhibition “Crimea – a golden island in the Black Sea” to Bonn and then to Amsterdam. More than 500 exhibits were supposed to return to Crimea in June 2014. But in connection with the reunification of Crimea with Russia, at the request of Ukraine, the Netherlands suspended the process of returning artifacts.
At the end of October 2021, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal ruled that the “Scythian gold” should be transferred to Ukraine. In January, the Russian side appealed this decision to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands. On June 9, the court rejected the complaint.