Russia’s Museums Hold 110,000 Artifacts Taken from Ukraine, Investigation Reveals
An investigation by Ukrainian outlet Texty.org.ua has uncovered that Russia’s two leading state museums hold more than 110,000 cultural artifacts removed from Ukrainian territory.
The Gaze reports this, referring to Texty.org.ua.
Most of the items were transferred long before Ukraine’s independence in 1991. Yet the study also identified artifacts inventoried in Russian collections as recently as the 2000s.
Historians say the transfer of artifacts was not only material looting but also part of Russia’s effort to construct a historical lineage linking Moscow directly to Kyivan Rus.
“This gave Moscow, albeit fake, the veneer of a cultural, civilized state with an ancient historical tradition and one with Byzantine-Kyiv church metrics,” noted Ukrainian historian Yaroslav Dashkevych, citing research on fabricated genealogies that remain central to Russia’s political narrative.
From the Russian Empire through the Soviet Union, decrees, military seizures, and official archaeological expeditions ensured that Ukraine’s richest finds were sent to St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Among the most famous collections now in Russia is the Pereshchepyna Treasure, discovered in Poltava region in 1912 and considered one of the most spectacular archaeological hoards of the era.
The cache includes 70 kilograms of precious metals, a gilded silver amphora, Byzantine coins, and personal regalia of 7th-century rulers. It has never returned to Ukraine.
The Kul-Oba mound near Kerch, excavated in Crimea, yielded hundreds of gold plaques and jewelry that became centerpieces of the Hermitage’s celebrated Scythian collection.
The Texty.org.ua study also revealed how Russian museums obscure provenance. In the Hermitage’s online catalog, many items lack excavation sites or discovery details, forcing researchers to trace their origins through inventory codes.
Some world-renowned Ukrainian finds are listed under vague titles such as “round-bottomed vessel” rather than their actual identities.
Russian imperial authorities simultaneously blocked the development of Ukrainian museums. In the late 19th century, when Kyiv intellectuals petitioned to establish a local museum, the governor-general dismissed the proposal as “unnecessary.”
Restitution Challenges
The question now is whether these treasures can ever be reclaimed. While global precedents exist – from Nazi-looted art being returned to Jewish families to European debates on restituting artifacts to Africa and Asia, Ukraine faces a more complicated legal reality.
“From the legal standpoint, it is almost impossible,” said Denys Yashny, researcher at Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, noting that many removals occurred when Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire or the USSR.
In the early 1990s, Ukraine briefly established a commission to address restitution of cultural property, but the reaction from Moscow was one of hostility.
Russian intellectuals and cultural figures condemned the idea, framing it as a threat to a “shared cultural space.” Historian Dmitry Likhachov went so far as to call the agreement on restitution signed by CIS states in 1992 a “catastrophe,” insisting that artifacts outside their countries of origin had greater significance than if they were concentrated at home.
Despite this, Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture has pledged to create a comprehensive register of stolen artifacts. But with more than a hundred thousand identified objects, and likely hundreds of thousands more, the full scale of restitution remains daunting.
Read more on The Gaze: Ukrainian Art & Culture at Risk: Frontline Evacuations and Preservation Efforts