It Makes Putin Nervous

Even Peskov confirmed this.

Almost ten years that have passed since the occupation and annexation of Crimea and the beginning of a long legal battle over the fate of museum exhibits from the autonomy’s museums have again reminded us: you can violate international law, rewrite your own Constitution, hypocritically pretend that the seized territory has always belonged to you. However, it is impossible to deceive anyone with this.

Russia in the Dutch courts seemed to be trying to act as such an ordinary scammer. If Russian propaganda insisted on the exclusive connection between Russia and Crimea, on the fact that Crimea is Russia, then when it came to Crimean gold, the Russian side seemed to forget about it and began to talk about what they always talked about in Ukraine – about the uniqueness of Crimea.

Actually, even in the commentary of the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, made after the return of ‘Scythian Gold’ to Ukraine, they announced it clearly – it should belong to Crimea and be stored in Crimea.

I think that the Dutch lawyers who decided to return the Scythian Gold were also guided by the logic that priceless exhibits should belong to Crimea. But Crimea is occupied and annexed by Russia. Is it possible to return property to someone who has been captured and turned into a hostage? I am sure that Crimea became just such a hostage to Russian ambitions after the tragic 2014 events.

Therefore, the fact that Scythian Gold returned to the same country from whose territory it was sent to an exhibition in the Netherlands is, I think, a classic victory for both common sense and justice. This is the very life according to the rules that made Vladimir Putin and Sergei Lavrov very nervous.

And this is a reminder that sooner or later, common sense and international law will prevail in the case of Crimea itself. Then it will be possible to return the exhibits to the museums where they were on display before the occupation of the Crimean Peninsula.

The Scythian Gold, as Dmitry Peskov said, will be kept in Crimea.

In Ukrainian Crimea.

Vitaly Portnikov, Crimea.Realities