Stratford57
Diamond Member
Americans and Western Europeans, aren't you tired of your taxpayers' money being used to support flourishing corruption in Ukraine? (Just yesterday in Kiev Biden promised to give another 2 million dollars to official Kiev.)
A hoard of stolen Dutch golden age paintings is being offered for sale by an ultra-nationalist militia in Ukraine, according to the museum from which the works vanished a decade ago.
TheWestfries Museumin Hoorn, 50km north of Amsterdam, said on Monday it suspected members of the Ukrainian state security service, SBU, the far-right Svoboda (Freedom) party, and “art criminals with contacts ... at the highest political level” might also be involved in the attempt to sell the canvases.
The museum said it learned the paintings had surfaced in Ukraine in July, when two members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists – one of more than 50 militiasopposing Russian incursions in eastern Ukraine– approached the Dutch embassy in Kiev.
The men claimed to possess the missing Westfries paintings, and offered a photograph of one – pictured alongside a copy of a recent Ukrainian newspaper – as proof. The militia would consider their return under certain conditions and in exchange for €50m (£36m), the men said.
Having exhausted diplomatic channels through the Dutch foreign ministry and enlisted the help of Interpol, also to no avail, the museum dispatched an independent stolen art expert to Ukraine to negotiate directly on its behalf.
“The militiamen disappeared quite quickly, after a couple of meetings,” the expert, Arthur Brand, told a press conference on Monday. He said he did not know who stole the works, or how or when they reached Ukraine.
“I cannot reveal everything,” said Brand. “But members of the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine!) are involved.”
Our collection is in the hands of corrupt people, deep in the heart of the Ukrainian political elite.
Ad Geerdink, the museum director said the museum hoped that by revealing the stolen paintings’ whereabouts, potential buyers might be put off buying them.
“Our collection is in the hands of corrupt people, deep in the heart of the Ukrainian political elite,” he told De Telegraaf. “They refuse to give back these paintings and want only one thing: to earn illicit money from our cultural heritage.”
Stolen Dutch paintings offered for sale by Ukrainian militia
Art experts also suggested that Ukraine's politicians or the national security service, SBU [Srcurity Service of Ukraine], may have been involved in bringing the paintings to the country.
“I cannot reveal everything, but members of the SBU are involved,” art expert Arthur Brand, who made the estimate of the paintings' value, told a news conference Monday, The Guardian newspaper reported.
“Our collection is in the hands of corrupt people, deep in the heart of the Ukrainian political elite,” Brand told The Netherlands' De Telegraaf.
The museum's statement charged that “the stolen art has become a toy for the opaque political forces in Ukraine, engaged in an internal struggle for power, cronyism and corruption.”
Ukrainian Militia Demands 50M Euros for Stolen Paintings | News
The 24 paintings by Jan Linsen, Jan van Goyen, Jacob Waben and other Dutch artists were taken when robbers broke into the Westfries Museum in the northwestern city of Hoorn in early 2005.
The robbers also stole 70 pieces of silverware before disappearing without a trace, the museum said in a statement.
Stolen Dutch art found in Ukraine 'risks being sold illegally': museum
A hoard of stolen Dutch golden age paintings is being offered for sale by an ultra-nationalist militia in Ukraine, according to the museum from which the works vanished a decade ago.
TheWestfries Museumin Hoorn, 50km north of Amsterdam, said on Monday it suspected members of the Ukrainian state security service, SBU, the far-right Svoboda (Freedom) party, and “art criminals with contacts ... at the highest political level” might also be involved in the attempt to sell the canvases.
The museum said it learned the paintings had surfaced in Ukraine in July, when two members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists – one of more than 50 militiasopposing Russian incursions in eastern Ukraine– approached the Dutch embassy in Kiev.
The men claimed to possess the missing Westfries paintings, and offered a photograph of one – pictured alongside a copy of a recent Ukrainian newspaper – as proof. The militia would consider their return under certain conditions and in exchange for €50m (£36m), the men said.
Having exhausted diplomatic channels through the Dutch foreign ministry and enlisted the help of Interpol, also to no avail, the museum dispatched an independent stolen art expert to Ukraine to negotiate directly on its behalf.
“The militiamen disappeared quite quickly, after a couple of meetings,” the expert, Arthur Brand, told a press conference on Monday. He said he did not know who stole the works, or how or when they reached Ukraine.
“I cannot reveal everything,” said Brand. “But members of the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine!) are involved.”
Our collection is in the hands of corrupt people, deep in the heart of the Ukrainian political elite.
Ad Geerdink, the museum director said the museum hoped that by revealing the stolen paintings’ whereabouts, potential buyers might be put off buying them.
“Our collection is in the hands of corrupt people, deep in the heart of the Ukrainian political elite,” he told De Telegraaf. “They refuse to give back these paintings and want only one thing: to earn illicit money from our cultural heritage.”
Stolen Dutch paintings offered for sale by Ukrainian militia
Art experts also suggested that Ukraine's politicians or the national security service, SBU [Srcurity Service of Ukraine], may have been involved in bringing the paintings to the country.
“I cannot reveal everything, but members of the SBU are involved,” art expert Arthur Brand, who made the estimate of the paintings' value, told a news conference Monday, The Guardian newspaper reported.
“Our collection is in the hands of corrupt people, deep in the heart of the Ukrainian political elite,” Brand told The Netherlands' De Telegraaf.
The museum's statement charged that “the stolen art has become a toy for the opaque political forces in Ukraine, engaged in an internal struggle for power, cronyism and corruption.”
Ukrainian Militia Demands 50M Euros for Stolen Paintings | News
The 24 paintings by Jan Linsen, Jan van Goyen, Jacob Waben and other Dutch artists were taken when robbers broke into the Westfries Museum in the northwestern city of Hoorn in early 2005.
The robbers also stole 70 pieces of silverware before disappearing without a trace, the museum said in a statement.
Stolen Dutch art found in Ukraine 'risks being sold illegally': museum
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