Dutch court says gold and artwork should be returned to Ukraine

The Crimean art collection is at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. On Tuesday, a Dutch court ruled that the group was owned by Ukraine. File photo by Bart Maat / EPA-IFY

The collection has been housed in a museum in the Netherlands since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, an action that has been condemned almost universally by the international community as a crime and an act of aggression.

The items came from many museums, which were part of Ukraine at the time.

In its ruling on Tuesday, the court said: “Although the museum’s pieces come from Crimea, in so far as they can also be considered the heritage of Crimea, they are part of the cultural heritage of Ukraine, where the latter existed as an independent country.” 1991.” According to Dutch news.

Museum pieces belong to the public part of the Fund of the State Museum of Ukraine.

The appeals court’s decision upheld a decision by a lower court in 2016 that reached the same conclusion, that the Netherlands does not recognize the annexation of Crimea by Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the ruling was a “long-awaited victory” for Ukraine.

“Grateful to the court for its just decision,” he tweeted.

Artifacts from one of the museums are undoubtedly Ukrainian property, but the ownership of items from the other three museums has not been proven. No ruling has been made by the Dutch judges on the property.

Russia and Crimea can appeal to the Supreme Court on Tuesday