Russia is removing cultural assets from occupied Ukrainian territories and selling them on the black market. This was stated by Ukraine’s Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications, Mykola Tochytskyi, in an interview with Ukrinform. According to him, since the start of the full-scale invasion, the aggressor has stolen over 1.7 million items of Ukrainian cultural heritage — from archaeological artifacts to museum collections.
“If earlier these items were taken to the Hermitage or Moscow museums, now they are ending up on the black market,” the minister noted. He emphasized that Russia is blatantly violating international law by appropriating Ukrainian cultural property.
Tochytskyi also said that thanks to international cooperation, some stolen artifacts have been successfully recovered. He personally received some of them during foreign visits. According to the minister, Russian officials are directly involved in the looting of Ukrainian museums. In February, Ukraine imposed sanctions for the first time on 55 individuals and three legal entities from Russia involved in the plundering of Ukraine’s cultural heritage.
Earlier, Ukrainian media reported that the Ministry of Culture does not take responsibility for evacuating cultural valuables, shifting this responsibility to local authorities and the museums themselves.