MOSCOW, November 24. /TASS/. Russia may appeal to international courts following the Netherlands’ decision to hand the Scythian Gold collection over to Ukraine as the move has no legal justification, Russian Presidential Envoy for International Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoy told TASS.

"The Netherlands was clearly thinking about politics. This is not about the incompetence of its judicial corps but the fact that the judges live in a certain social environment. Of course, the Russophobia and the anti-Russian media hysteria that exist in the Netherlands could not but influence the court’s decision. We believe that the ruling is not legally sound, which is why I don’t rule out the possibility of filing appeals with international courts. However, you must understand that we are unlikely to find support at international courts. Today, international courts are politically engaged against Russia," Shvydkoy pointed out.

According to earlier reports, the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Information Policy stated that it had reached an agreement with Amsterdam’s Allard Pierson Museum on the return of the Scythian Gold collection.

The Scythian Gold collection of over 2,000 items was on display at the Allard Pierson Museum of the University of Amsterdam between February and August 2014. After the peninsula reunited with Russia in March 2014, uncertainty over the collection arose as both Crimean museums and Ukraine claimed the exhibits. Amid this background, the University of Amsterdam suspended the collection’s handover until either the dispute is legally resolved or the parties come to terms. In June 2023, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands upheld the Amsterdam Court of Appeal’s decision that the Scythian Gold collection be handed over to Ukraine. In a conversation with TASS, Crimea Senator Sergey Tsekov slammed the ruling as unlawful, saying that according to all the laws, the collection belonged to the Crimean museums.