On Thursday, April 28, it became known that the Russian occupants, together with the newly appointed so-called director of the museum, Yevhen Horlachov, found Scythian gold in the previously captured Melitopol Museum of Local Lore. The press service of the Zaporizhzhia RMA says that the location of the cultural monument was given out by local collaborators. But is it?
According to the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, the Scythian gold was hidden in a safe place in February of this year. According to the CTRC, on March 10, the occupiers searched the museum, but then they could not find anything. Museum director Leila Ibrahimova, who was abducted from her home in the early morning of March 10, did her best to preserve the gold collection.
The newly appointed so-called director of the museum, collaborator Yevhen Horlachov, together with the Russian military, was engaged in the search for the gold of the Melitopol mound in order to "save" it. For almost two months, they interrogated the museum staff, conducted searches in their homes, but could not establish the whereabouts of the gold. Moreover, the museum staff could not tell where it was hidden, because they did not have such information.
The Russians are spreading information that museum workers wanted to take Scythian gold out of the country in order to sell it to European countries. Of course, without providing any evidence. Now the Scythian gold, most likely, has already been taken out of the museum in an unknown direction.
According to our data, 1841 units of museum items were stolen.
Among which:
48 units of historical weapons (31 firearms + 17 edged weapons: the historical period of the 17th century – the first half of the 20th century);
1793 items made of precious metals: 302 – gold, 1491 – silver.
Among the 302 items of gold:
198 decorations from the Melitopol Scythian mound (historical period 4th century BC);
76 objects of the Hun and Sarmatian period 3-5 centuries AD;
3 – ring and two coins (historical period XX-XXI centuries);
25 units – awards of the Soviet era.
Silver – 1491 units, among them:
322 coins – Dukhobor treasure (historical period 1761-1824);
324 coins – NEP treasure 1921-1924;
845 – orders and medals of the Soviet era.
Consequently, the fate of the Melitopol Scythian gold is currently unknown. We hope that Ukraine will be able to preserve this historical artifact, and all those involved will be punished and will answer before the law, wherever they are.