Archaeological treasures found by SBI to be exhibited for the first time at the National Museum of History of Ukraine

On 15 August, the National Museum of History of Ukraine will open an exhibition of valuable archaeological finds seized by the State Bureau of Investigation during investigations of former MP Horbatov.

The exhibition "Archaeologist's Day: Rescued Treasures" is timed to coincide with the professional holiday of Ukrainian archaeologists, which falls on 15 August. The exhibition features world-class archaeological finds obtained by the museum over the past four years.

In June 2022, SBI officers, on the basis of information from the National Police's SID, exposed former MP Valeriy Gorbatov, who headed the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in the early 2000s, as a financier of the DNR terrorist organisation. He continued to carry out business activities in the occupied territories of Ukraine and paid taxes to the occupiers.

The former official also misappropriated Ukraine's cultural heritage, which, according to preliminary information, was stolen from museums in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and purchased from "black archaeologists".

Then the SBI conducted six simultaneous searches. More than 6,000 items of historical and cultural property were found in one of the Kyiv offices belonging to the former MP. In particular, the searches uncovered Scythian Akinak swords, spears, axes, arrows, coins, 12th century chainmail, Hellenistic helmets and Trypillian culture pottery.

During new searches in early May, the MP and members of his criminal group found another cache with a large collection of antiquities that could also have been illegally removed from the Museum Fund of Ukraine or found during illegal excavations. More than a thousand artefacts dating from the Bronze Age to the late Middle Ages were found.

In particular, a Hun sword decorated with gold and almandines was recovered. Its style resembles the famous Hun diadem from the Melitopol Museum, which was stolen by the Russian occupiers. Armour dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries was also found, including Polish hussars' helmets, such as Morion, Iranian helmets, and coins from the periods from antiquity to the late Middle Ages. Law enforcement officers also found a Byzantine gold enamel icon depicting the Archangel Michael from the 11th-12th centuries, ancient and Scythian antiquities, icons, cold steel from the 14th-19th centuries, the First and Second World Wars, swords from the Great Migration period, etc.

Both collections are estimated to be worth millions of dollars.

The exhibition is organised with the support of the Prosecutor General's Office, the National Police of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine and the State Bureau of Investigation.

The opening of the exhibition "Archaeologist's Day: Rescued Treasures" will take place on 15 August, Tuesday. The beginning is at 14:00.