Scythian gold collection belongs in Crimea, Kremlin says

MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. Russia is monitoring the unfolding situation around the Scythian gold collection and thinks that it should be in Crimea, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov asserted. "We’re following [the situation], we think that this gold should be in Crimea," the Kremlin official said in response to a question as to whether the Kremlin was monitoring the development of events around this collection on Wednesday. The Scythian gold collection of over 2,000 items was on view at the Allard Pierson Museum of the University of Amsterdam between February and August 2014. After the peninsula reunited with Russia in March 2014, uncertainty over the collection arose as both Russia and Ukraine claimed the exhibits. In this regard, the University of Amsterdam suspended the collection’s handover until either the dispute is legally resolved or the parties come to terms. At the end of October, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal ruled that the Scythian gold collection should be handed over to Ukraine. In December, Head of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin asking to get the Prosecutor General’s office involved in the lawsuit over the collection’s ownership. On Wednesday, Deputy Head of the Working Group for International Legal Issues of Crimea's Permanent Mission at the Russian Presidential Office Alexander Molokhov told TASS that Russia's Investigative Committee was conducting a preliminary investigation over the theft of the Scythian gold collection. Read more