1.7 million artefacts are in occupied territories of Ukraine - Minister of Culture Tochytskyi
There are currently 1.7 million artefacts in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine.
Censor.NET reports with reference to Voice of America that this was stated by the Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine Mykola Tochytskyi.
"As of today, we have 1.7 million artefacts in the occupied territories. And they are at risk that the Russian Federation will smuggle them not just to Russia, but abroad. And here we are working with our American colleagues to identify and return them," he said.
Tochytsky said that a few days ago such a return took place: these were sabers from the times of Kievan Rus, according to American and Ukrainian experts, they date back to the late 9th and early 13th centuries.
"They came in the mail saying they were barbecue tools. And our American colleagues felt that this was something wrong and arrived with the whole team, and when they opened it, they saw these swords. This is the third such discovery by our American colleagues and the third return.
Therefore, we will also work on how to identify, store and return stolen Ukrainian artifacts," the minister said.
In addition, Tochytskyi noted that today new technologies allow digitizing each artifact in order to track its further fate and have additional evidence in international courts.
"When we say that Russia must pay, we do not forget that it must pay for the destruction of Ukraine's cultural heritage," the Minister of Culture emphasized.
Earlier, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andrii Kostin said that artefacts smuggled by the occupiers in Ukraine began to appear on the international black market. In addition, the Prosecutor General's Office has created a special unit that, among other things, deals with attempts to illegally sell Ukraine's cultural heritage abroad.
