Moscow hopes Scythian gold lent to Amsterdam museum to be returned to Crimea
MOSCOW. Feb 5 (Interfax) - Moscow on Thursday expressed hope that the current dispute over a Scythian gold collection that is now on display at a museum in Amsterdam would end up in a Dutch court, ruling for it to be returned to the Crimean museums it was borrowed from rather than sent to Ukraine to satisfy claims from Ukrainian authorities.
"We hope very much that the Amsterdam court will take account of the case presented by the four Crimean museum institutions and issue a well-considered, unbiased and just ruling precluding irreparable damage to the cultural and historical heritage of the peoples of Crimea, where the aforementioned artifacts were found and where they have always been stored carefully," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told a briefing in Moscow.
He said lawyers were currently examining each party's case, and that court hearings had not yet begun.