MOSCOW, November 27. /TASS/. The Scythian gold collection has been delivered to Ukraine, and it is being cleared by customs now, the Ukrainian State Customs Service announced.
"Kiev customs has begun processing Scythian gold. Right now, a truck carrying 2,694 kg of cultural property, known as 'Scythian gold,' has entered the Kiev Pechersk Monastery, where Kiev customs agents will identify the artifacts at the treasury of the national museum of Ukraine," the agency said on its Telegram channel.
According to the press office of the National Museum of History of Ukraine, agents are currently examining the condition of the 565 delivered artifacts.
"These are, in particular, antique sculptures, Scythian and Sarmatian jewelry, Chinese lacquered chests that are two thousand years old," the museum said on its website.
According to museum Director General Fyodor Androschuk, "the condition and the further fate of the collection will be under the world’s close attention from now on," because the collection "has gained an international political resonance."
"This puts the onus on everyone who was behind the political decision to return the collection back to Ukraine. They must provide it with unprecedented security, as well as economic support for the National Museum of History of Ukraine," he said, according to the press office.
About the Scythian gold
Scythian gold is a collection of over 2,000 items that were used for the "Crimea: gold and secrets of the Black Sea" exhibit that took place between February and August of 2014 in the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam. Its status came into question after the reunification of Crimea with Russia in March 2014. Both Crimean museums and Ukraine laid claim to the items transported from the peninsula. In this regard, the University of Amsterdam, which supervises the work of the Allard Pierson Museum, suspended the procedure of handing over the valuables until the sides reached an agreement or the dispute was resolved in a court.
In June of this year, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands upheld the ruling of the Amsterdam Court of Appeals to hand over Scythian gold to Ukraine. Sergey Tsekov, member of the Federation Council of Russia from Crimea, called this decision illegal, because the gold legally belongs to Crimean museums.