Russia wants to take historical values out of occupied Mariupol: CNS

The Russian occupying forces in the temporarily captured Mariupol (Donetsk region) organized the removal of museum exhibits and artifacts of the 11th century to the territory of Russia. About this informs Center of National Resistance at the National Security Council of Ukraine.
Valuable stone statues, which, according to the occupiers, were allegedly found by the Russian military during “archaeological work” were under threat. Soldiers of the Russian Guard handed over these tombstone statues belonging to the culture of the Polovtsians of the XI-XII centuries to the Mariupol Local History Museum. Local collaborators have already evaluated these artifacts, and now “specialists” of the museum promise to decide their further fate in the near future.
The Center of National Resistance notes that since the occupation, the museum has become a tool for the legalization of stolen cultural values of Ukraine, which are subsequently entered into Russian registers and transferred to storage facilities and museums of the Russian Federation.
At the beginning of the full-scale war, the museum building was completely destroyed by shelling, which led to a large-scale fire. However, some of the exhibits were saved. However, immediately after the occupation, the Russians began to mass-export the most valuable artifacts to occupied Donetsk. Among the exported exhibits were unique objects of great historical and cultural significance, which are part of the heritage not only of Mariupol, but also of the entire region.
In particular, part of the collection, including the works of the outstanding artist Arkhip Kuindzhi, was handed over to the occupiers by the then director of the museum, Natalia Kapusnikova. After that, she fled to Russia, effectively betraying her city and the cultural heritage of Ukraine.
Currently, according to information from the National Central Committee, the museum is managed by Raisa Bozhko, who continues to facilitate the theft and destruction of cultural values belonging to the Ukrainian people.