A priceless collection of gold
artifacts from Crimea that was on loan to a Dutch museum when Russia seized the
peninsula must be returned to Ukraine and not Crimea, a Dutch court ruled on
Wednesday in a judgment likely to anger Moscow.
Kiev and the four museums have
been wrangling over the fate of the archeological treasures, including gems,
helmets and scabbards, which were on loan to Amsterdam's Allard Pierson Museum
when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March, 2014.
A spokesman for Ukraine's
Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin tweeted: "This is an important victory for
Ukraine."
There was no immediate
reaction from Russian officials, but the ruling was likely to anger Moscow
which insists it has full sovereignty over the Black Sea peninsula which houses
a major Russian naval base.
The annexation, following the
toppling of a pro-Russian president in Kiev, triggered the biggest
confrontation between the Kremlin and the West since the end of the Cold War in
1991. It brought Western sanctions against Moscow and complications in the
international arena for Crimean organizations from sports teams and cultural
institutions to commerce.
Some Crimeans greeted the
decision with dismay.
"I don't think it was a
good idea to bring this before court," said Valentina Mordvinsteva, a
historian and the exhibition's Crimea-based original curator, choking back
tears.
"After this ruling what
should Crimean people think about Ukraine?" she said.
"NOT THE END OF THE
STORY"
The exhibition, its
centerpiece a 4th century BC Scythian helmet, highlighted the rich history of
the peninsula, a staging post on the silk road between from China to Europe,
where Russian, Greek, Turkish cultures have met since ancient times.
The court ruled that only
sovereign countries could claim objects as cultural heritage. Since only
Ukraine, not Crimea, was sovereign, it was for a Ukrainian court to adjudicate
the competing ownership claims.
"Ownership questions have
to be settled when they have been returned to the state and in accordance with
the law of the state in question," said judge Mieke Dudok van Heel.
"The Allard Pierson Museum must return the treasures to Kiev."
A spokesman for the University
of Amsterdam, owner of the Allard Pierson museum, said the museum would
continue to hold the objects until all appeals were settled.
The Crimean museums have three
months to appeal the ruling. Ukraine was ordered to pay a portion of the costs
of storing the collection, estimated at 300,000 euros. But for Mordinsteva, the
story had further to run.
"It is not the end of the
story," she said. "Such a rich story will never end."
(Reporting By Thomas Escritt;
Editing by Ralph Boulton)
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