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Scythian swords, axes and pickaxes stolen by the occupiers, which the United States handed over to Ukraine last year. Source: Office of the President of Ukraine
Artifacts stolen by the Russian occupiers in Ukraine have already begun to appear on the international black market. Thanks to cooperation with the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice, Kyiv has enough evidence to open new criminal proceedings against Russian crimes of cultural property theft.
This was announced by Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin in an interview with Voice of America. According to him, with the support of the U.S. Attorney General, a meeting was held in Washington with a special FBI team that specializes exclusively in investigating crimes against cultural heritage.
"In addition to the systematic destruction of cultural heritage, Russia is resorting to another crime - the theft of cultural property. These artifacts, stolen from our museums and archaeological sites, are now appearing on the international black market. We already have enough evidence to open new criminal proceedings for these crimes," Kostin said.
The Prosecutor General added that thanks to close cooperation with American colleagues from the FBI and the US Department of Justice, they managed to "put all the pieces together."
Based on the information received, a special unit was created in the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
"This unit not only investigates cases of destruction of cultural heritage as a result of shelling, but also cases when our cultural heritage is being illegally sold abroad," said Kostin.
As OBOZ.UA reported, in late September, the Ministry of Culture informed that Ukraine, thanks to cooperation with the United States, had returned the artifacts stolen by the Russians. They were located in the temporarily occupied territories, from where they tried to smuggle the valuables to the United States.
And at the end of November 2023, it became known that Scythian gold, which was exhibited in a museum in the Netherlands when the Russian army occupied Ukrainian Crimea in 2014, was returning to Ukraine.
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