Ukrainian Museum Identifies Art Looted by Russia Thanks to a Video

The Museum believes that 99 of the 100 identified pieces are now in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Ukraine, with support from allies, has been campaigning for its ownership of this strategically important gateway to the Eastern Mediterranean ever since.

Looting from Kherson Art Museum

A Facebook post by the Kherson Art Museum shows that the incriminating video was filmed at Crimea’s Central Museum of Tavrida and aired on Russian TV last September. At the time, the Crimean Museum offered no comment on the situation. 

Meanwhile, the Kherson Art Museum has identified several stolen artworks. This includes Fishermen On The Seashore by acclaimed artist Ivan Shulha, known for his work of Socialist realism. There was also a painting by Yefrem Zverkov, a well-known landscape painter and creator of the “strict style,” a subgenre of Socialist Realism. It is said that among other stolen pieces was the work by celebrated watercolorist Venera Takaieva, Daughter of Guzel, and three seascapes by Romantic painter Ivan Aivazovsky, the Portrait of a Lady with a Dog by 17th-century English artist Peter Lely, and a few more Soviet-era paintings. 

In addition, the Museum pointed out that three oil paintings by Ksenia Stetsenko, Anatolii Platonov, and Antonin Fomintsev appeared in the video. These paintings were but a few of the thousands of pieces that the Russian military had previously taken from Ukrainian museums while claiming they were being evacuated. Ukraine noted that these works remain unreturned.

Other Looted Objects From Kherson Region

Local cultural workers reported that almost the entire collections of the Kherson Art Museum, the Kherson Regional Museum, and the Kherson Region National Archives had been removed. Among looted objects were even the remains of Russian Field Marshal Grigory Potemkin and tombstones of Russian Tsarist commanders. The Russian forces transported various artifacts to the left bank of the Dnipro River, an area still under their occupation. These include ancient Greek amphorae, gold ornaments belonging to steppe nomads, medieval weapons, and Orthodox icons.

With no lists of artifacts or documents validating their historical significance, the museums can only put the approximate total amount of looted items at 23,000.

Looted Art Surfaces on the Black Market

Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, numerous Ukrainian museums have fallen victim to looting. Some looted objects were reportedly wrapped in makeshift materials like rags instead of being properly packed for transit. Subsequently, some of the works looted from the Kherson Art Museum and other institutions have surfaced on the black market.

Kyiv is actively engaged in locating stolen art and valuables, highlighting the presence of a suspected “network” behind the plundering. Sadly, the destruction of the cultural heritage is just one of the many effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the turbulent months that followed in the Kherson region.

Legal Consequences: Russia Accused of Violating 1954 Hague Convention

Russia faces accusations of breaching the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. This pact was ratified after World War II and prohibits signatories from engaging in any form of cultural property theft. Notably, both Russia and Ukraine are signatories to this treaty. Consequently, Ukrainian officials are entitled to denounce these incidents as assaults on their national identity.