Russia illegally removed 360,000 archival documents from Kherson, intelligence says

Apr 26, 2025 - 10:15

stolen archive by russia

Ukrainian intelligence services identified that Russian forces illegally removed nearly 360,000 documents from the National Archival Fund following the liberation of Kherson from Russian occupation, the Main Intelligence Directorate reported on 24 April.

According to intelligence, these actions represent a gross violation of international humanitarian law norms, particularly the Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict from 14 May 1954.

The Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) and the State Archival Service of Ukraine have added names of individuals and organizations to the official registry on the War&Sanctions portal’s Stolen Heritage section.

These entities are “involved in the illegal removal of Ukrainian archival materials from occupied territories and their subsequent integration into Russian archival infrastructure.”

Among those listed are Russian state archive head Andrey Artizov, the so-called “state archival service of the Republic of Crimea” chairman Oleg Lobov, and Sevastopol city archive director Irina Krasnonos. Vitalii Semyonov, founder of the public organization “Archive Patrol” is also included to the list along with employees of the so-called “state archive of the Republic of Crimea” who directly participated in illegally removing Kherson Oblast’s state archival collections in 2022.

According to HUR, since 2014, over 5 million documents from Ukraine’s National Archival Fund have fallen under Russian occupation. These documents form an integral part of national and world cultural heritage. A significant portion of these archives was illegally removed from occupied Ukrainian territories—including Crimea, parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, and Kherson Oblast.

Deputy Minister Halyna Hryhorenko revealed on 11 April that Ukraine lacks adequate space to evacuate cultural heritage objects belonging to the State Museum Fund.

Relocated cultural valuables reportedly require large storage areas—19,000 cubic meters. The ministry has only 500 cubic meters of space available, according to Hryhorenko.

She said that “frontline territories contain 6 million movable cultural heritage objects in total.”

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