SEVASTOPOL, June 9. /TASS/. There is a risk that Scythian gold will be sold at illicit private auctions if handed over to Ukraine, a Russian senator told TASS on Friday.
The Supreme Court of the Netherlands said on Friday that it had upheld the verdict of the Amsterdam Appellate Court demanding that the Scythian gold collection be transferred to Ukraine.
"They may not be interested in a piece of cultural heritage but very likely are interested in making money from the sale of this or that object. So, I don’t think that the Scythian gold will be lost but it is highly probable that it may leave the treasure trove of our state as it can be sold at some clandestine private auctions," said Yekaterina Alatabayeva, who represents the city of Sevastopol at Russia’s Federation Council, or upper parliament house.
According to Altabayeva, many international organizations, whose mission is to protect and preserve the world’s cultural heritage, are pursuing a policy of bans and restrictions on the Russian language and culture. "This is a hypocritical policy of double standards when a country is denied the chance to preserve the most valuable thing it has - its cultural heritage. Undoubtedly, the Scythian gold collection is not Ukraine’s heritage as it originates from Crimean museums and the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol are an inseparable part of Russia. And according to law, cultural treasures, naturally, are to return to Russia," she stressed.
She noted that the process of the collection’s transfer is quite long and called for holding on and continuing efforts to settle this matter legally, via official channels.
The Scythian Gold is a collection of more than 2,000 items that were put on display at an exhibition at the Allard Pierson Museum of the University of Amsterdam in February 2014 when Crimea was still part of Ukraine. Uncertainty over the collection's future emerged when Crimea reunited with Russia in March 2014. Crimea’s museums and Ukraine both laid claim to the collection. The University of Amsterdam, which oversees the Allard Pierson Museum's activities, put the handover procedure on hold until either the dispute was legally resolved or the parties came to terms.