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Ukraine to store Scythian gold in Kiev-Pechersk Lavra — ministry

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

MOSCOW, November 28. /TASS/. The artifacts known under the name Scythian gold will be stored in a museum at the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra monastery, the Ukrainian Culture Ministry said.

The collection will be "stored in the treasury of the museum on the territory of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra," the ministry said.

The State Customs Service of Ukraine said on November 27 that the Scythian gold had been brought to Kiev and was going through customs clearance. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the artifacts belong to Crimea and should be stored there.

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. The collection’s future came into doubt 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, put the return of the items on hold until either the dispute was legally resolved or the parties came 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 an interview with TASS, Crimea Senator Sergey Tsekov slammed the ruling as unlawful, saying that by all legal accounts, the collection belongs to the Crimean museums.