The State Bureau of Investigation reported that more than 7,000 archaeological treasures were found in the possession of a former Ukrainian MP who headed the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in the early 2000s. All artifacts were transferred to the National Museum of History of Ukraine. As the SBR notes, during the pre-trial investigation, the suspect agreed to voluntarily hand over his collection to the museum.
The Bureau emphasized the scale of the find:
“This is the largest addition to the museum collection in the entire history of independent Ukraine. Some of the artifacts have already been presented to museum visitors, as they were transferred there for responsible storage.
According to the investigation, the searches The former MP has been in custody since 2022. In April of that year, law enforcement officers found a collection of ancient Ukrainian objects in one of his offices, including a unique Hun sword with gold decoration, a golden Byzantine icon of the 11th–12th centuries, various jewelry, helmets, icons, and other historical items, including dishes from the Trypillya culture.
In early May, investigators discovered another cache with a large number of archaeological treasures. Law enforcement officers suggest that these objects could have been illegally removed from the Museum Fund of Ukraine or obtained during illegal excavations. More than a thousand artifacts date from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages. The investigation materials indicate:
“In particular, the seized Hun sword, decorated with gold and almandines. In terms of style, it resembles the famous Hun diadem from the Melitopol Museum, which was stolen by the Russian occupiers. Armor from the 16th-19th centuries was also found, including helmets of Polish hussars, Iranian helmets, and coins from the periods from antiquity to the late Middle Ages”.
