Russia has committed 534 crimes against cultural heritage of Ukraine since 2014

Ukrainska Pravda
·2 min read

Russia has committed 534 crimes against Ukrainian Cultural Heritage sites since the beginning of the war Russia launched against Ukraine in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea.

These data were documented by the non-governmental organisation Crimean Institute for Strategic Studies (CISS), said Elmira Ablyalimova-Chiyhoz, an expert in cultural studies and project manager, at the presentation of a website for documenting violations against cultural property, reported Ukrinform.

The organisation started recording the crimes of the Russians against cultural heritage with objects in Crimea. "We started with the first case – The Bakhchysarai Palace. And I remember how difficult it was to convince the monument protection community that what is happening on the territory of this palace is not restoration work. This is the destruction and mockery of the monument. And what we see today has confirmed all our sad forecasts," said Ablyalimova-Chiyhoz.

 

They started the documentation with the Bakhchysarai Palace. Central entrance and main building under a temporary cover

In total, more than 500 such cases have been documented over the years. "Today, we have a fairly large database of crimes against the cultural heritage of Ukraine. In general, we have recorded 534 violations committed by the Russian invaders. Of these, 200 violations were recorded in Crimea, 334 in the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk oblasts," said Ablyalimova-Chiyhoz.

 

Elmira Ablyalimova-Chiyhoz

She noted that "the scale of cultural losses caused by Russia's full-scale military aggression in Ukraine is comparable to a humanitarian catastrophe." That is why conducting systematic work documenting these violations now is so important.

Ablyalimova-Chiyhoz says crimes against cultural heritage committed by Russia include in particular:

  • appropriation of cultural heritage objects;

  • use of cultural property for military purposes;

  • movement of cultural property from the occupied territories;

  • museum lootings;

  • illegal archaeological work;

  • modification and reconstruction of monuments;

  • decontextualisation of historical sites.

Examples of all these crimes in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine have been posted by CISS specialists on its updated site.

 

Examples of crimes against the cultural heritage of Ukraine. Screenshot from the site

The Crimean Institute for Strategic Studies has been documenting violations against cultural property in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine since 2016. Until 2022, it focused on violations in protecting cultural heritage objects in the territory of temporarily occupied Crimea. With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, it extended its activities to the newly occupied territories of Ukraine.

Main photo: A.Savin / Wikipedia

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