ST. PETERSBURG, June 7. /TASS/. Russia is outside the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)’s jurisdiction and has not contacted it regarding the lawsuit, filed by Crimean museums seeking the return of their Scythian gold collection, Russian Presidential Envoy for International Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoi said.
"We have no contacts with the ECHR. Of course, the museums will inform us about any outcome. But after we withdrew from the ECHR, there have been no direct contacts," Shvydkoi told TASS on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). "Interfering into the judicial process while the case is still being heard is not the best thing to do."
Andrey Malgin, a Crimean museum director, told TASS in March that the ECHR has accepted the claims of Crimean museums.
In June 2023, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands upheld a lower court ruling by the Amsterdam Court of Appeals ordering that the Scythian gold collection be handed over to Ukraine. On December 27, 2023, the Ukrainian customs authority said that the Scythian gold had been transported to Kiev and procedures for clearing it through customs had begun. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated Russia’s position that the collection of priceless artifacts belongs to Crimea and must be kept in the Crimean museums that had originally loaned them in 2014 to a Dutch museum for an exhibit. In turn, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the transfer of the Scythian gold collection to Ukraine an illegitimate, unscrupulous decision and practically a theft.