Texty: Russian museums refuse to return 110,000 Ukrainian looted treasures. [article + photos]

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1. Excerpt:

   > Two of Russia’s most prominent museums are home to over 110,000 artifacts looted from Ukraine since imperial times, finds a Ukrainian investigation. In reality, the number is higher, as the museums obscure the origins of the artifacts.
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   > A new investigation by the Ukrainian media outlet TEXTY reveals that two of Russia’s biggest museums – the State Hermitage Museum and the State Historical Museum – hold over 110,000 artifacts that were taken from modern-day Ukraine.
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   > The study excluded icons, artwork, and weapons, as their origins are harder to trace. It also did not look at objects looted during the current war in Ukraine.
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   > > “It was from Muscovy and later the Russian Empire that Ukraine suffered the biggest losses of cultural artifacts,” says Serhii Kot, a Ukrainian scientist who researched the fate of Ukrainian artifacts.
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   > According to Kot, artifacts were forcibly removed from Ukraine to Russia through looting by troops, organized extraction by authorities, archaeological expeditions, sales, and relocations. This occurred over centuries, starting from imperial Russia through the Soviet era.
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   > > “During all the years of rule over Ukraine, the Russian government did not set up a single state museum on its territory,” Kot states.