The ECHR accepted the claims of Crimean museums regarding Scythian gold

The European Court accepted the claims. They were submitted by Russian lawyers. It is not yet known when the hearing will be scheduled.Malgin said.

Scythian gold is a collection of more than 2 thousand objects that were used to decorate the exhibition “Crimea: Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea”, held from February to August 2014 at the Allard Pearson Museum in Amsterdam.

An uncertain situation with it arose after the reunification of Crimea with the Russian Federation in March 2014. Crimean museums — the Kerch Historical and Cultural Reserve (which later became part of the East Crimean Reserve), the Central Museum of Taurida, the Bakhchisarai Historical and Cultural Reserve and the Tauride Chersonese — and Ukraine declared their rights to the exhibits taken from the peninsula.

In this regard, the University of Amsterdam, which oversees the work of the Allard Pearson Museum, has suspended the procedure for transferring valuables until an agreement is reached between the parties or the issue is resolved legally.

In February 2024, the special representative of the Russian President for international cultural cooperation, Mikhail Shvydkoy, told TASS that Crimean museums had filed lawsuits with the ECHR in order to challenge the decision to transfer Scythian gold to Ukraine.

Litigation

In June 2023, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands upheld the decision of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal to transfer the collection of Scythian gold to Ukraine. On November 27, the State Customs Service of Ukraine reported that Scythian gold was brought to Kyiv, and the process of its customs clearance began. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that the collection of artifacts belongs to Crimea and should be kept in Crimean museums. In turn, Russian Foreign Ministry representative Maria Zakharova called the transfer of the Scythian gold collection to Ukraine an illegitimate, unscrupulous decision and, in fact, theft.