Ukraine on Russian art looting as Russia plans to return to the cultural scene in Venice

The Kherson Art Museum had more than 14.000 works in its collection before the Russian invasion in 2022, but after the withdrawal of Russian forces, the fate of nearly 10.000 art objects is unknown, the AP agency writes today.

As they retreated, the Russians loaded most of the exhibits, "from America to Japan," onto trucks and took them to annexed Crimea, said museum director Alina Docenko.

The removal of the museum objects was recorded by the residents of Kherson.

Ukraine is drawing attention to these lootings as Russia seeks to return to the world cultural scene.

Next month's Venice Biennale plans to allow Russian representatives to participate for the first time since 2022. Ukraine has warned that the event "should not become a stage for covering up the war crimes that Russia commits daily against the Ukrainian people and Ukrainian cultural heritage."

The case of the Kherson museum stands out because Ukraine knows exactly what was lost.

Several years before the war, Docenko began photographing objects from the holdings for a digital archive, and when Russian forces occupied Kherson, she hid the hard drives.

This archive is a detailed record of looted cultural property and allows investigators to cooperate with Interpol in finding missing works and prosecuting those responsible.

In most of Ukraine, such documentation does not exist.

The Russian Ministry of Culture did not respond to an AP request for comment on the alleged removal of objects from Ukrainian museums.

Russian officials in the occupied territories previously said that it was actually about protecting cultural property.

Kirill Stremusov, a former Russian-appointed official in occupied Kherson who died before the city was liberated, said that the removed objects “will definitely be returned” once the fighting ends.

According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, Russia has destroyed or damaged 1.707 cultural heritage sites and 2.503 cultural objects, including event spaces and galleries, as of March.

The ministry said that more than 2,1 million museum items are located in territories occupied by Russia.

It has also been confirmed that more than 35.000 museum objects were looted from territories regained by Ukraine.