The Ministry of Culture and NAZK will deal with the prevention of trade in art looted by the occupiers
The National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAZK) together with the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy (MKIP) will deal with the prevention of illegal trade in art and antiquities stolen by the Russian occupiers. The creation of a working group responsible for this, called the Art Sanct Task Force, was announced by the NAKC and Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko on Thursday, February 2. In addition to identifying art objects looted during the war in Ukraine and preventing their free circulation in the world, the group will search for art assets of sanctioned Russians with the aim of further freezing and confiscation. Work within the framework of the group will be conducted with Ukrainian and world representatives of the art market, international experts and the Stanford International Working Group on Russian Sanctions. Document on the establishment of the Art Sanct working group. Photo: nazk.gov.ua The head of the NAZK Oleksandr Novikov said that it is planned to create a special database of art objects stolen from private and state collections, with the aim of their identification and return to Ukraine. “Currently, we are working to identify everything that was stolen by the Russians in Ukraine, and we are in contact with international and Ukrainian law enforcement agencies and specialized organizations in order to prevent the international traffic of stolen art objects and bring Russia to justice,” Tkachenko said. Read also: Russians are robbing collectors of the Kherson region and taking exhibits to Crimea – intelligence. Also, this database will be combined with data on artistic assets of Russians subject to sanctions. “Which will make it easier for honest participants in the art market to carry out “sanction” inspections and make it more difficult for Russian oligarchs to sell such assets,” Novikov explained. According to UNESCO, since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, more than 230 cultural objects have been damaged, many of them looted by the Russians. According to the calculations of the ICRC, as of February 1, 2023, more than 1,500 objects of cultural heritage and cultural infrastructure have been damaged or destroyed. Majolica sculptures of Mykhailo Vrubel, stolen from the Kherson museum. Photo: dovkola.media In October, Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko stated that the Russians had looted almost 40 Ukrainian museums. Read also: “Shame on the Ministry of Culture – it failed to preserve culture during the war”: founder of Ukrainer Bohdan Logvinenko
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