Spain Recovers Part of Stolen Scythian Gold from Ukraine
Spanish authorities have confiscated ancient Scythian ornaments valued at €60 million, which they claim were stolen from Ukraine. This was reported by the Spanish police.
Police explained that 11 ancient gold items were transported from Ukraine to Spain in 2016 for resale.
These bracelets, necklaces, and earrings dating back to the VIII-IV centuries BCE were accompanied by forged documents claiming they belonged to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate).
Spanish investigators arrested five individuals, three of whom are Spanish citizens, and two are Ukrainian citizens, effectively dismantling a criminal network dedicated to smuggling cultural valuables out of Ukraine.
The investigation began when agents learned that a Ukrainian resident of Madrid was selling a series of golden jewellery pieces with significant historical and economic value in Ukraine.
"These are items that cannot be sold through normal legal channels, such as auction rooms. Consequently, these valuables were incorporated into the assets of various commercial companies established specifically to provide them with a legal appearance, facilitating their commercialization," stated the police.
To legitimize the origin of the jewelry, documents were added in Ukrainian, English, and Spanish languages, confirming their affiliation with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. These documents were then handed over to the main suspect in the case, an Orthodox priest living in Madrid.
The first artefact was confiscated by investigators in 2021, a golden belt adorned with ram's heads, which the main suspect had sold to a Madrid businessman.
From this point onward, and with extensive police efforts, agents confirmed that the suspects possessed other items with similar characteristics.
Collaboration with the Security Service of Ukraine enabled the tracking of the confiscated belt, as well as several other exhibits that had been presented at an exhibition held in a museum in Kyiv from 2009 to 2013.
The Scythians were a nomadic people who once dominated parts of Eastern Europe and Asia, including the territory of modern-day southern Ukraine, roughly from the 8th century BCE to the 4th century BCE. Artefacts created by the Scythian civilization are among Ukraine's most renowned historical treasures.
Previously, The Gaze reported that the Ukrainian collection of "Scythian Gold," which had been blocked for nearly nine years in the Allard Pierson Museum in the Netherlands due to illegal lawsuits by the aggressor country Russia, would finally be returned to Ukraine and housed in the National Museum of Ukrainian History.