US returns Scythian swords and Cuman sabre taken by Russians to Ukraine
The United States has officially returned to Ukraine items of historical and cultural heritage that Russians stole from the temporarily occupied territories and tried to illegally import into the United States.
In particular, the invaders tried to take out a Bronze Age axe head, Scythian swords, and a Polovtsian (Cuman) sabre.
Source: US Customs and Border Protection; the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States
On 10 March, the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States hosted an official ceremony to hand over the items of Ukrainian historical heritage to the Ukrainian side.
"On 2 September 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized a stone axe handle and three metal swords at the international mailroom at John F. Kennedy International Airport," the customs officials said in a statement.
The swords came from Russia, and the stone axe handle came from Ukraine. The items were identified as Ukrainian cultural property.
"U.S. Customs and Border Protection is extremely proud to have played an important role in the recovery of these artefacts that were stolen from the people of Ukraine," said Francis Russo, Director New York Field Operations.
During the return ceremony, Ambassador Oksana Markarova recalled that the Russian occupiers are deliberately stealing and exporting historical and cultural artefacts from Ukraine in an attempt to deprive Ukraine of its identity.
What happened?
From July to September 2022, law enforcement officers from the Department of Homeland Security's Investigations Division in New York and Newark, New Jersey, detained several shipments of archaeological items.
The cargo arrived in the United States from the territory of the Russian Federation without proper documentary support.
In total, about 20 cargoes with archaeological objects were detained in the United States; they were sent from the Russian Federation (Krasnodar Krai) and the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories.
Law enforcement officials suspected that the archaeological objects might have belonged to Ukraine, and examinations confirmed these fears. The American side also contacted the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, which finally confirmed that the artefacts were of Ukrainian origin.
The stolen valuables included:
- Akinaka swords of the Scythian culture of the VI-V centuries BC (the area of distribution is the forest-steppe and steppe parts of Ukraine and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea)
- A polished flint axe of the III millennium BC, which, according to the Institute of Archaeology of Ukraine, belongs to the culture of spherical amphorae (distribution area: the northwestern part of Ukraine);
- Cuman sabres from the times of the ancient Kyivan Rus of the XI-XII centuries and many other artefacts.
The return of the archaeological items, which were attempted to be smuggled into the United States from Russia, was made possible thanks to the cooperation of Ukrainian diplomats in the United States.
Earlier, the Russian occupiers seized a museum with Scythian gold in Melitopol, took original paintings by prominent artists from Mariupol, and stole a collection of medallic art by Yukhym Kharabet.
The Russians also looted the Kherson Regional Museum; numerous historical artefacts were transported to occupied Henichesk.
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