Will the Ukraine Forum on Asset Recovery (UFAR) trace looted cultural property?

The U.K. and U.S.-organised, international Ukraine Forum on Asset Recovery (UFAR) will bring together governmental, policy, legal, financial and regulatory experts to support the tracing and recovery of Ukrainian assets that were ‘looted under the Yanukovych regime‘ (through establishing networks, sharing techniques, teaching best practice, building capacity…). Though there has been no explicit statement that any cultural experts are participating in the Forum, Ukrainian prosecutors want to recover billions of dollars in cash and property.

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caution in discussion of violence amidst propaganda, provocation and fear

Because of local community choices, I have been reluctant to discuss violence against the cultural property of minority communities in Ukraine.

the Memorial to Victims of the Holocaust in Sevastopol has been desecrated again

The Memorial to Victims of the Holocaust (памятник Жертвам холокоста) in Sevastopol has been desecrated again (опять). Vandals painted out the word “victims” (and related grammar) so that its name read “Monument to the Holocaust”.

Ukrainian law on transfer of cultural property for safety

Ukraine is continuing preparations for the protection of its cultural heritage. Its Cabinet of Ministers has empowered its Ministry of Culture to keep cultural property abroad, when it would otherwise be at risk of loss or destruction (знищення) – for example, when it would be in occupied territory or endangered areas (such as the Crimean peninsula or the south-eastern mainland).

Ukraine-Belarus cross-border crime and security

Belarus and Ukraine are working on Strengthening Surveillance and Bilateral Coordination Capacity along the Common Border between Belarus and Ukraine (SURCAP Phase II), funded by the European Union (EU), supported by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).

Unknown gunmen attacked Chersonesos dig team, rejected Ukrainian excavation licence

Unrelenting bad news: ‘in Sevastopol, near Fiolenta [Bay], unknown persons shot at archaeologists, [who were] leading official excavations [В Севастополе в районе Фиолента неизвестные обстреляли археологов, ведущих официальные раскопки]’. No-one was injured in the incident, which lasted half an hour(?), but the police investigation will not be able to reach a reassuring conclusion.

‘No newspaper published this’: organised antiquities crime in Cyprus

Solicitor Christiana O’Connell-Schizas has reported on an Antiquities Bust in Aphrodite’s City (Pafos in Cyprus).

Russian separatists have demanded that Ukrainian Jews register themselves and their property

The Russian separatist administration of Donetsk, or elements within that administration, have ordered Jewish Ukrainians to register themselves, their families and all of their property and other assets.

Ukrainian law on protection of cultural heritage in occupied territory

Obviously, I’m working via machine translation (and back-and-forth machine translation of documents), and the Ukrainian parliament’s website has been dysfunctional, but I believe that I’ve understood the details of Ukraine’s law on the protection of cultural heritage in its occupied territory.

Are Russian ultranationalists attacking Ukrainian cultural property abroad?

On the 5th of April, St. Elias the Prophet Ukrainian Catholic Church in Brampton, Canada, burned down. ‘When asked if anyone in the congregation may be worried the blaze was related to the conflict in Ukraine, [Pastor Roman] Galadza said, “Absolutely not. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.“‘(1) Unfortunately, a set of incidents in Canada and the United States suggest that Russian ultranationalists are active.