The authorities that have been illegally established in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea seized 32 units of real property comprising the Khan's Palace in the town of Bakhchysaray, which is part of the Bakhchysaray State Historical and Cultural Reserve, for the purpose of illegal use thereof.
On 06/06/2018, the Fakty website published the facts of deliberate destruction and damage to a historical monument – the Khan's Palace – going on in the town of Bakhchysaray, Crimea.
Unidentified persons conduct the illegal excavations at the site of the ancient Muslim burial grounds near the village of Ungut, (Kirovskiy district) on the temporarily occupied Crimean peninsula.
On 11/11/2015, the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea forwarded to the Main Administration of the National Police in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol the information originally published on the website Krym. Realii (krymr.org), claiming that the exhibits, including Aivazovsky's paintings, representing the cultural heritage of Ukraine, have been illegally moved from museums on the Crimean peninsula occupied by the Russian Federation to the Hermitage (St.-Petersburg). This constitutes the evidence that the illegally established authorities of the annexed Crimea peninsula are abusing their powers, thereby causing a considerable damage to the state interests of Ukraine.
The Investigative Department with the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol received the materials from the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea regarding the Russian Federation violating the national laws in the sphere of archaeological heritage in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, specifically indicating the fact that in 2014-2017, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation permitted the operations to recover and to study the objects of archaeological heritage, including any such operations on the Crimean Peninsula. The Law of Ukraine On the Protection of Cultural Heritage, stipulates that any archaeological surveying, excavations, and other earthworks on the territory of the monument, protected archaeological territory, protection zones and within the historical areas of settlements, including the study of the remains of human activity located below the surface of the ground and underwater, shall be subject to the permit issued by the central executive authority implementing the state policy in the sphere of cultural heritage protection (Ministry of Culture of Ukraine). The study of the electronic document flow database of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine revealed that the Ministry had not issued any permits for archaeological surveying, excavation and other earthworks on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula since 2014.
On 04/18/2018, the Main Investigative Department of the National Police of Ukraine forwarded to the Main Directorate of the National Police of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol a letter of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine regarding the cultural property, specifically a number of museum pieces belonging to the national part of the Museum Fund of Ukraine, being moved by unidentified persons from the occupied Crimean Peninsula to the city of Vladivostok (Russian Federation) across the customs border of Ukraine without any customs clearance.
On 01/13/2016, while monitoring of the mass media, in particular web-based media, a report was found on the Information Accent website (http: //www.akcent.org.ua/) dated 01/12/2016, about the commencement of replacement of historical tiles (protected by the UNESCO) in the State Museum Reserve Chersonesos Taurica by the order of Sergey Menyaylo, the illegally appointed mayor of Sevastopol. This constitutes the evidence of the deliberate and illegal destruction of and damage to the cultural heritage objects, or parts thereof, committed in relation to the nationally significant monuments.
