Some news articles about the cultural destruction by Russia in Crimea:
Russia seeks to destroy Crimea’s archaeological heritage: report
28.06.2022
Russian occupation authorities aim to destroy the archaeological legacy of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, including the tombs of the ancient Greek colony of Chersonesus, a Polish website has reported.
In the city of Sevastopol, construction work is under way in a part of the Chersonesus cemetery on the so-called Virgin Hill, Poland’s dziennik.pl website reported, citing Ukraine’s Ukrinform news agency.
The resting place of some of the first Christian martyrs has been turned into a building site, dziennik.pl reported. It added that heavy construction equipment has already damaged several archaeological sites, reducing them to a heap of rocks.
An eyewitness, heritage conservationist Anatoly Tumanov, said: “On June 23, I saw an excavator destroy historical heritage,” as cited by dziennik.pl.
The excavator had cut one of the well-maintained Chersonesus tombs in two, dziennik.pl reported.
“The contractor has no right whatsoever to start building work without first carrying out archaeological research,” Tumanov said.
Chersonesus was an ancient Greek colony, dziennik.pl said, adding that in 988, Vladimir the Great was baptised there, which represented a symbolic baptism of Kievan Rus.
The colony’s remains are in today’s Sevastopol. In 2013, UNESCO listed Chersonesus as a World Heritage site, dziennik.pl reported.
The devastation of the Chersonesus tombs is not the first time the Russian occupation authorities have destroyed historical sites in the Crimean Peninsula, according to dziennik.pl.
The website cited lawyer Daryna Pidhorna as saying that “hundreds of thousands of artefacts have been irrevocably destroyed during the construction of the Taurida route.”
Meanwhile, according to UNESCO, Russia has destroyed over 150 cultural sites since invading Ukraine in February, including more than 70 shrines, dziennik.pl reported.
Source: http://www.polskieradio.pl
New illegal excavations at Chersonese in occupied Crimea as Russia tries to rewrite history
07.07.2020
The Russian occupation authorities have resumed illegal excavations at Tauric Chersonese near Sevastopol, the site of an ancient city which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. There are strong concerns about the physical damage Russia is doing to this priceless site in the absence of international monitoring. The circumstances around the excavations suggest also that they are linked with Moscow’s efforts to stake out its supposed historical right to Crimea.
According to the Russian-loyal website New Sevastopol, the excavations have been initiated by the Russian Patriarchate’s Cultural Committee with financial support from a foundation entitled ‘My History’. They are aimed, the head of the foundation’s board, Ivan Esin says, “at creating a map of archaeological zones which will be turned into museum exhibits and will form part of a project also including a museum of ancient Byzantine culture and a museum of Christianity”. The excavations began earlier in the year but were suspended because of the pandemic.
Back in March, the same site reported “the most substantial archaeological find over recent decades”, saying that it had been made on the territory of military units adjacent to Chersonese. The ‘My History’ Foundation claimed to have found a cave city and hundreds of rare or unique artefacts. On 18 March, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the Russian defence ministry would be “freeing a part of its land” to extend the reserve land at Tauric Chersonese, with the land in question presumably that where the archaeological finds were made.
It is unclear how the land came to be considered Russian defence ministry property. In placing Ancient City of Tauric Chersonese and its Chora on the World Heritage List in 2013, UNESCO mentioned the dangers from expanding urban development and nothing at all about military units. Under Russian occupation, more and more land has been ‘handed to Russia’s defence ministry’, and it is quite possible that any gesture by the ministry now is in returning what it should never have been ‘allocated’ in the first place.
All Russia’s excavations, ‘restoration’ work, etc. in occupied Crimea are illegal and are taking place without crucial surveillance and checks. Like all UN and other international structures, UNESCO considers Russia to be illegally occupying Ukrainian Crimea, with Moscow making use of this situation to hide its crimes. While officially claiming that anybody can visit and “see for themselves that all is well” in Crimea, the demands that any officials come as though to a part of Russia make any such visits impossible.
Source: khpg.org
Russian occupants decided to destroy an ancient memorial in Crimea
22.07.2022
In Crimea, the Russians want to build a railway through the prehistoric settlements of the Taurians.
The occupiers continue to destroy the cultural and historical heritage of Crimea: in Russia they said that the railway near the Inkerman Monastery destroys the monument, so the railway will be laid through the prehistoric settlements of the Taurians and ancient burial grounds, the office of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea said on Facebook.
Such destruction of the Crimean cultural heritage, initiated personally by Vladimir Putin, was called "archaeological rescue work", during which they plan to destroy Burial Ground No. 9 (II-I millennium BC), Taurus Settlement No. 5 (VII-V centuries AD .e., I-XV centuries AD), the settlement of Karernaya 1 (approximately VIII-VI centuries BC) and the settlement of Ak-Kerman (approximately 15-18 centuries AD). ). Ancient settlements will be excavated, everything found will be included in the report and transferred to Russian museums.
The appropriation and destruction of the Crimean cultural heritage is a violation of international humanitarian law, but the aggressor country uses these mechanisms to implement its comprehensive long-term strategy to strengthen Russian dominance over the past, present and future of Ukrainian Crimea.
Source: en.socportal.info
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