The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine has reported that at least 164 archaeological artefacts from the temporarily occupied Crimea were stolen by Russian occupiers. The valuables were found during the excavations of the ancient cities of Nymphaeum and Pantikapaeum.
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The GUR also published the names of 14 Russian museum workers who are engaged in propaganda and facilitate the theft of Ukrainian cultural heritage. Among them is the director of the All-Russian Historical and Ethnographic Museum, Iryna Zhukova, who in 2024 organised an exhibition ‘Unity through the Ages’ in the temporarily occupied Luhansk region aimed at spreading Kremlin propaganda. The list also includes the director of the ‘Museum of the Great Patriotic War’, Oleksandr Shkolnik, who conducted training for museum workers from Donetsk to promote the Russian historical narrative.
The GUR notes that since 2022, Russian museums have been systematically conducting propaganda activities in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. They organise exhibitions, lectures and educational programmes aimed at legitimising the occupation, integrating Ukrainian museums into the Russian cultural space and destroying Ukrainian identity.
In addition, the list of persons involved in the theft of Ukraine’s cultural heritage includes the head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin. It also includes the History of the Fatherland Foundation and the Russian Historical Society, which has 7 branches in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
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