Ukraine Interior Ministry says investigation underway to return Dutch art …
View Of Oostereiland by Jan Claesz Rietschoof is one of the paintings found in eastern Ukraine. (Photo courtesy Westfries Museum website)
Ukrainian officials urge Dutch partners for cooperation
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry has said it was investigating the situation with the Dutch art works found in east Ukraine and cooperating actively with the Dutch Embassy in Kyiv.
According to the Ministry, the Head of Ukraine’s National Police Khatia Dekanoidze had officially invited the Dutch investigators to conduct a joint investigation.
The Interior Ministry has stressed that the art works had been found in a home belonging to a person close to Ukraine’s ousted ex-president Viktor Yanukovych who had fled his opulent mansion outside Kyiv in February 2014 after mass protests against his decision to reject an EU Association Agreement and move the country towards Russia.
According to the Ministry’s comments, the first official contact between the Dutch and Ukrainian authorities on the found art works only happened after the museum had come to the conclusion that their attempts to negotiate a return were failing and that political pressure was needed.
Read also Dutch museum asks Ukraine authorities to help return stolen pictures
It said, “the Ukrainian and Dutch law-enforcement agencies will be working together to locate the art pieces, establish their authenticity and return them to the museum as soon as possible,” recalling Ukraine returning 139 drawings and three prints from the ‘Koenigscollectie’, which had been lost during World War II, to the Netherlands in 2004.
Open all references in tabs: [1 – 3]