MOSCOW, November 27. /TASS/. Scythian artifacts, known as Scythian gold, belong to Crimea and should stay there, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"It (Scythian gold - TASS) belongs to Crimea and it should be kept there," the Russian presidential spokesman said, commenting on the collection’s transfer to Ukraine.

Earlier, the Ukrainian State Customs Service announced the return of Scythian gold to Ukraine, with customs officers in Kiev currently processing the precious cargo. It has arrived on the premises of the Kiev Pechersk Monastery where the treasure it will undergo an authentication process.

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.

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 by all legal accounts, the collection belonged to the Crimean museums.