INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A collection of paintings from the Oleksii Shovkunenko Art Museum in the capital of the occupied Ukrainian region of Kherson have been
removed and transferred to a museum in Russian-annexed Crimea, according to the museum authorities.The paintings, by renowned artists
including Ivan Pokhitonov, Pyotr Sokolov, Leonid Chichkan and Mykhailo Andriienko-Nechytailo, were transported from Kherson to the Taurida
Taurida in the Crimean capital Simferopol confirmed the transfer of the artworks to The Moscow Times on Thursday."Due to the introduction of
martial law on the territory of the Kherson region, I have been instructed to take the exhibits of the Kherson Art Museum for temporary
storage and ensure their safety until they are returned to their rightful owner," museum director Andrei Malgin said.The Kherson Art Museum,
looting of the works, slammed by the museum as a "crime," is the latest example of Russian troops removing important cultural artifacts from
the paintings out of there
They load them into their huge cars
Without any protection, without any packaging, just like garbage," one Kherson resident told Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta last week,
adding that the occupying Russian forces had been "more careful with stolen washing machines" that they were with the city's artistic
heritage.In March, Kyiv accused Moscow of looting over 2,000 artworks from Mariupol's Kuindzhi Museum, named after local realist painter
Tkachenko told Euronews last month, accusing Russian forces of destroying or severely damaging around 500 museums and cultural institutions
in Ukraine since the war began.
