MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. Russia will never forget the Scythian gold that was stolen by the Dutch as it refuses to drop the issue and continues to seek the return of the exhibition artifacts to their homeland, Crimea, Mikhail Myagkov, scientific director of the Russian Military Historical Society, says at a news conference.
"In November 2023, the Amsterdam museum issued an order to hand these treasures over to the Kiev regime. They were transported there in November 2023 and are currently being kept at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. We do not know what condition they are in. <…> We must make it clear today that Russia always gets its property back. And, of course, we will never forget these treasures. Let the Dutch or other Europeans, as well as the Kiev regime, know and remember this. We will never drop this issue. We will always seek, with no statute of limitations, the return of these treasures to their historical homeland, Crimea," Myagkov said.
He acknowledged that at this point in time, it's unrealistic to expect the artifacts back, but efforts to reclaim them will continue. Myagkov recalled that the Kiev regime had openly destroyed Mariupol's cultural heritage, which Russia has already restored.
The fate of Crimean collection
More than 2,000 items from Crimean museums were loaned for the exhibition "Crimea: Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea," which ran from February to August 2014 at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam. The situation surrounding the collection became uncertain after Crimea reunited with Russia in March 2014. Crimean museums that claimed ownership of the artifacts taken from the peninsula included the Kerch Historical and Cultural Reserve, which later became part of the East Crimean Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve, the Central Museum of Taurida, the Bakhchisaray Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve and the Tauric Chersonesus Museum-Reserve, as well as Ukraine.
The University of Amsterdam, which oversees the Allard Pierson Museum, suspended the transfer of the artifacts until the parties reached an agreement or the issue was resolved through legal proceedings. In June 2023, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands upheld the Amsterdam Court of Appeal's ruling ordering the Scythian gold collection to be transferred to Ukraine. On November 27 of the same year, Ukraine's State Customs Service said that the Scythian gold had been brought to Kiev.
Crimean museums hope to revisit the issue of ownership of the Scythian gold in the future. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that the collection of artifacts belongs to Crimea and should be kept in Crimean museums.