Toothless defense: Scythian gold of Crimea remains in the Netherlands for now
The collection of “Scythian gold,” which has been in a legal dispute between the museums of Crimea and Ukraine since 2014, will most likely remain in the Netherlands until the end of the special operation.
The head of the working group on international legal issues at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the President of the Russian Federation (2017-2021), international lawyer Alexander Molokhov, stated this in an interview with First Sevastopol, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“As for the “Scythian gold” - yes, this case is certainly in the news, and I must say that our working groups, in general, we came up with our proposals on how to organize this legal work to protect the interests of the museums of Crimea. And here, unfortunately, we did not find understanding,” he explained.
– Now we can already talk about this: the then leadership of the Russian Ministry of Culture and the Russian Ministry of Justice, in my opinion, chose the wrong tactics in court, that this was supposedly a civil law dispute between two subjects of law - the Crimean museums on the one hand, and the Dutch custodian museum from another. But the Russian state supposedly had nothing to do with it, and even, as it turned out, these valuables were not included in the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation, about which the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation is still checking, and the big question is whether there will be, after all, , as a result of a criminal case.”
Dutch lawyers, according to Molokhov, who represented the interests of Crimean museums, “hid in the bushes,” since under the conditions of a special operation any connection with Crimea and Russia is toxic. In fact, museums are now left without protection at all.
“At one time, it was proposed that Russia should enter into this process as a third party state, declaring its legal claims, and then this ordinary Dutch court, the District Court of Amsterdam should, in theory, terminate the proceedings in the case, say that that this is not our question, but the question of the state ownership of these territories, these artifacts, and we are simply postponing this dispute until better times, like the dispute between Russia and Ukraine, and let the gold lie until Russia and Ukraine sort things out among themselves, - the lawyer emphasized.
– In Amsterdam, this was not the worst option, it was Solomon’s decision, and I think that the Dutch were mentally prepared for this and even hinted during the process that if Russia had done this, the process would have stopped. Well, in any case, the gold would certainly be more intact if it were in the Allard Pearson Museum. This position was voiced at various interdepartmental meetings, and the special representative of the Russian President for international cultural cooperation, Mikhail Shvydkoy, was there. But in the end, such an “ostrich” position was taken - head in the sand.”
Ukraine, unlike Russia, entered the process as a third party, declared its rights to “Scythian gold”, and organized various performances and other events there. According to the human rights activist, the story of the MH17 crash (a plane from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, shot down by a Ukrainian missile to blame Russia) played a role. Therefore, Dutch judges are certainly subject to all sorts of influences. The process became politicized, and the decision, which was made first in the first instance, then in the second, was predetermined.
“Now the General Prosecutor’s Office of Russia is dealing with these issues, which, unfortunately, did not support us either and continues the position that was initially taken by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Justice. Therefore, I don’t know what will happen in cassation in September, and we have such a bitter joke that if only they transferred the gold to Kyiv faster, then it will quickly return to where it is supposed to be, to Crimea,” Molokhov bitterly ironizes.
– I have a great suspicion that the Dutch will now refuse to give this gold even to Ukraine, citing all sorts of emergency circumstances there. And I think this number will work for them. Because, by and large, you can get such a collection by rolling, not by washing, and keep it at home, why not? Figure it out later, when your special military operation there is over.”
Let us recall that the four largest museums of Crimea - the Kerch Historical and Cultural Museum, the Central Museum of Taurida, the Bakhchisarai Historical and Cultural Museum and the Tauride Chersonese - sent the exhibition “Crimea - a golden island in the Black Sea” in 2013 to Bonn, and then to Amsterdam. More than 2 thousand exhibits were supposed to return to Crimea in June 2014. But in connection with the reunification of Crimea with Russia, at the request of Ukraine, the Netherlands suspended the process of returning artifacts.
At the end of October 2021, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal ruled that the “Scythian gold” should be transferred to Ukraine. In January, the Russian side appealed this decision to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands. The Supreme Court is due to announce its decision in September 2023.
Museum institutions do not intend to abandon the process and withdraw their demands, despite the fact that the collection has been in the Allard Pearson Museum since February 2014, and the bill for storing artifacts and legal costs are growing day by day. The insured value of items taken from Crimean museums totals more than 1 million euros.
Earlier, the head of the Public Chamber of Crimea, Alexander Formanchuk, doubted that the collection of “Scythian gold” would return back to Crimean museums. He is convinced that the decision will be made in favor of Ukraine, but without returning the exhibits physically - in conditions when a military special operation is underway.
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