Museums in the temporarily occupied Crimea file lawsuits with the European Court of Human Rights against the transfer of Scythian gold to Ukraine

Moscow, Russia (Svidomi) — Mikhail Shvydkoy, the Russian Presidential Special Representative for International Cultural Cooperation, says that Crimean museums have filed lawsuits with the European Court of Human Rights against the decision to transfer the "Scythian Gold" collection of cultural artefacts to Ukraine. 

The Russians claim that this decision allegedly violates the rights of museums.

Mikhail Shvydkoy also says that although Russia has withdrawn from the Council of Europe, museums are supposedly entitled to apply to the ECHR as legal entities.

He claims that the plaintiff here is not the Russian Federation but the museums in the temporarily occupied Crimea because they had entered into an agreement with the Dutch Allard Pierson Museum. 

In February 2014, the collection was taken from four Crimean museums to participate in the Amsterdam "Crimea: Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea" exhibition.

After the annexation of the Crimean peninsula, Ukraine and Russia had a long legal battle over where to return the treasures. The court ruled in favour of Ukraine.

In November 2023, the artefacts were returned to Ukraine.