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Estonia will return to Ukraine 274 illegally exported archaeological artefacts that were confiscated by Estonian law enforcement officers during an attempt to import these items into the country in previous years.
The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine signed a memorandum with the Ministry of Culture of Estonia.
Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ihor Ostash handed over the memorandum to the acting Minister of Culture and Information Policy Rostyslav Karandieiev during the meeting.
“During the full-scale invasion, Russians stole thousands of archaeological artefacts from the occupied Ukrainian territories. Sad to say, there have been cases of illegal export of cultural property from Ukraine before. Therefore, each return of stolen items home is extremely important: it is both a replenishment of our material cultural heritage and a contribution to the restoration of justice,” said Rostyslav Karandieiev.
On behalf of the ICIP, the document was signed by the Ambassador of Ukraine to Estonia Maksym Kononenko, and on the Estonian side by the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Estonia Heidi Purga.
In 2018, the Estonian Police and Border Guard successfully prevented the smuggling of a number of archaeological artefacts into the country. Among them are 274 items belonging to the cultures of the Early Iron Age and Iron Age from the V-IV centuries BC to the VII-X centuries AD and are part of the cultural heritage of Ukraine. In particular, a collection of silver and gold coins, gold beads and other jewellery.
As reported, on 18 January, Rostyslav Karandieiev, together with the Ambassador of Ukraine to Estonia, Maksym Kononenko, and Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ihor Ostash, discussed the transfer of Ukrainian archaeological artefacts from Estonia.
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