SIMFEROPOL, February 14. /TASS/. Four Crimean museums are suing Ukraine and the Netherlands in the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) over ownership of the collection of Scythian gold that they claim a Dutch court erroneously awarded to Kiev, Permanent Representative of Crimea to the Russian President Georgy Muradov told TASS.

"The Republic of Crimea has challenged the ruling made by the Supreme Court of the Netherlands not to return [the collection of] Scythian gold to the four Crimean museums as unfair. In this regard, a complaint against two jurisdictions, namely the Netherlands and Ukraine, has been filed with the European Court for Human Rights," Muradov, who is also deputy prime minister of Crimea, said, citing gross violations of the rights of the plaintiff museums.

Crimea expects the ECHR to hand down an unbiased decision, the Crimean envoy emphasized. At the same time, there are concerns that the priceless artifacts could be sold on the black market, Muradov said.

"Illegally transporting them from Ukraine, especially without the consent of the museums, is impermissible," he said as he pledged consistent efforts on the part of the southern Russian region to return what he said was Crimea’s cultural heritage. "Of course, removing the criminal Kiev regime, that is by achieving our victory as soon as possible, would be the best way of returning the collection [to its rightful owners]," he concluded.

Russian Presidential Envoy for International Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoi told TASS on Monday that Crimean museums took the step of filing lawsuits at the ECHR in order to challenge the Dutch decision to transfer the collection to Ukraine. Shvydkoi, a former Russian minister of culture, lamented that the situation surrounding the collection had become hopelessly politicized and that there was virtually no hope that the priceless artifacts would be returned to the Crimean museums.