Senior Researcher of the Early Iron Age Archaeology Department at the Institute of Archaeology of the NAS of Ukraine, Candidate of Historical Sciences Evelina Kravchenko, in her interview for the information platform "Radio Culture," spoke about how Russian occupiers present themselves in European courts as representatives of Ukrainian museums and how the "Scythian gold" artifacts were recognized as Ukrainian.
The scholar emphasized: "The recognition of the artifacts (Scythian gold) as Ukrainian is Europe's acknowledgment of Ukrainian authority and our jurisdiction over Crimea. This is a huge blow to the image of the Russian Federation. The return of the collection to Kyiv is like achieving one of the tactical goals we reach on the way to our larger objective. The Historical Museum has already published a series of photos of the 'Scythian gold' so that Ukrainians can finally see what these items are. (...) The return of cultural values held in other museums around the world is very important because we do not know where and when Russia will file a lawsuit and which collection will be seized. Therefore, we need to work at the level of agreements with countries; I think, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we can definitely do this. If there is an agreement, no lawsuit will hinder cooperation. Of course, such things should be shown both in Europe and the States, as this is our cultural heritage, which not only promotes Ukrainian culture but can also earn money for it since these exhibitions are not free; people pay to view the collection. Exhibitions traveling around the world are a very good foundation for funding museums and culture in general."
Listen to the full audio recording of the interview
Source: information platform "Radio Culture"