MOSCOW, September 4 (RIA Novosti) – A collection of golden Scythian items belonging to four Crimean museums, which was exhibited in Amsterdam, will stay in the Netherlands and could only be returned through court, director of one of the museums told RIA Novosti Thursday.
“The faith of Scythian gold will most likely be determined in court. We have not filed any suits on our part, but we have attorneys working on it. The exhibition closed on August 31, our items remain in the Netherlands,” said Andrey Malgin, director of the Central Museum of Tavrida in Simferopol, Crimea.
However, the items from the National Historical Museum of Ukraine would be sent back to Kiev, according to the Ukrainian Culture Ministry.
“We expect that a part of the collection would arrive to Kiev. If everything is fine, we will make the exhibits public and show them to reporters,” a representative from the ministry’s press-service said.
Mikhail Shvydkoy, Russian President Vladimir Putin's special representative for international cultural cooperation, praised the Netherlands’ decision to return some of the Scythian gold to Ukraine.
“The fact that the Pierson Museum returned items to Kiev, and it was obliged to do so under the agreement, is reasonable and just,” Shvydkoy told RIA Novosti.
The rare gold artifacts were sent to the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam in February for an exhibition titled “Crimea: Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea”. The golden items came from five Ukrainian museums, four of which are located in Crimea.
In March, after Crimea’s reunification with Russia, the Ukrainian government demanded all of the gold back for itself. Crimea dismissed the claims as groundless.
