Crimea calls on the Netherlands to prevent transfer of Scythian gold collection to Ukraine
The Amsterdam Court of Appeal has a chance to make a fair and historic decision by not allowing the transfer of Crimea's Scythian gold collection to Ukraine, the head of the working group on international legal issues at the Permanent Representative of Crimea to the President of Russia, Alexandr Molokhov, said.
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| An artifact from the Scythian Gold Collection. Photo: AP |
The collection of Scythian gold and about 2,000 ancient artifacts from four Crimean museums were put on exhibition at the Allard Pearson Museum in Amsterdam in early February 2014, before Crimea reunited with Russia.
After the exhibition ended in August of that year, Russia and Ukraine, both of which considered the collection their property, could not decide to whom the artifacts would be returned.
On October 14, 2016, the Amsterdam District Court considered the request of the Crimean museums and decided that the collection should be returned to Kiev.
Crimea filed an appeal, which was heard by a court in Amsterdam on March 11. The Amsterdam Court of Appeal is expected to announce its decision on the Scythian gold on July 16.
According to Mr. Molokhov, Russia will try to the end to achieve the return of antiquities to Crimea, because they have the right to be on the land where they were found.
