Lend me the Crimea peninsula a year before the Russian annexation
Ukraine: “A part of our history has been returned”
A golden helmet (top photo) and jewelry, relics of the ancient Scythian people. Ukraine loaned these artifacts from the Crimea Museum to the Netherlands in 2013 and recently returned them. Amsterdam = AP NewsisWhen Russia forcibly annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014, Crimean relics that had been stranded during wartime in Europe were returned to Ukraine. Ukraine, which is fighting a difficult war due to Russia’s invasion in February of last year, won the ‘war for ownership of artifacts’.
The British daily Guardian and others reported that the National Museum of Ukrainian History opened some of the returned Crimean artifacts to the public on the 28th. According to the Guardian, about 500 artifacts, including those revealed on this day, were loaned by four museums in the Crimean Peninsula to the Allart Pirsson Museum in the Netherlands for the ‘Scythian Artifacts Exhibition’ in 2013. The Scythians, an ancient nomadic people, are considered to be the common ancestors of Slavic tribes such as Ukraine and Russia and are famous for their gold crafts.
The problem arose when Russia forcibly annexed the Crimea Peninsula in 2014, when an exhibition was being held in the Netherlands. Four museums in the Crimean Peninsula claimed legal ownership of the artifacts and filed a lawsuit in a Dutch court requesting their return.
However, in 2016, the Amsterdam court ruled in the first trial that the relics belonged to Ukraine because Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula was not recognized under international law. The museums that lost at the appeals court appealed, and in June this year, the Dutch Supreme Court issued a final ruling recognizing Ukraine’s ownership of the artifacts. The relics were returned to Ukraine on the 27th of this month.
Vasyl Maliuk, head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), who oversaw this lawsuit, emphasized, “We have not only returned (our) treasures, but also a part of our history.” On the other hand, Russian Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov objected, saying, “The relics belong to the Crimean peninsula and should remain in the Crimean peninsula.”
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.