Ukraine to pay 100,00 euros to Dutch museum for storage of Crimean gold once it is returned
Ukraine will pay more than 100,000 euros to the Allard Pierson Museum in the Netherlands for the storage of "The Crimea: the gold and the secrets of the Black Sea" exhibition.
The Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Pavlo Petrenko, commenting on this issue and the decision of the District Court of Amsterdam, told reporters that the money will be paid after the return of the collection to Ukraine.
"Ukraine is ready to pay for storage at the local museum [in the Netherlands], and we will cover all expenses immediately after the return of the collection to Ukraine," he said.
Petrenko predicts that the Scythian gold will be returned to Ukraine before the end of 2017.
"According to my projections, if the case advances normally in accordance with the Procedural Code of the Netherlands, we will be able to see this collection in Kyiv before the end of next year", the Minister said.
Previously, the District Court of Amsterdam decided to return the exhibits of the Crimean museums to Ukraine. There was a dispute regarding a collection of 565 exhibits provided to the Allard Pierson Amsterdam Archaeological Museum for "The Crimea - a golden island in the Black Sea" exhibition. The plaintiffs - four Crimean museums – claimed that they would lodge an appeal.
The exhibition was held in 2014 and ended after the occupation of the Crimea by the Russian Federation. According to Ukrainian legislation, the museum objects are part of the Museum Fund of Ukraine and the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine has to decide to where the objects from the Dutch exhibition should be returned. The Crimean museums insist on the indivisibility of the collections and on the fact that the exhibits brought from the Crimea before its annexation by Russia should return to the museums from which they were taken.