Ruling of the Supreme Court on the return of Crimean art treasures
The Supreme Court will decide on Friday to whom the Crimean art treasures, which the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam has guarded for years, should be returned. Earlier, the Amsterdam court ruled that the archaeological masterpieces should be returned to Ukraine.
The art treasures were lent to the museum by cultural institutions in Crimea when that peninsula was still part of Ukraine. That changed in 2014 when Russia annexed the area. This has led to a tussle over who gets the right to the treasures: Ukraine – to which Crimea no longer belongs – or the lending museums which are now under Russian control. Both Ukrainian and Crimean museums regard the treasures as their cultural heritage.
At the time, the Amsterdam museum asked the court to rule on the matter. In December 2016, the court ruled that the museum had to return the collection to Ukraine, but the Crimean museums appealed. The court issued the same verdict in October 2021, although it was based on different grounds than the court.
The Crimean museums disagreed with the court’s ruling and filed a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court. Earlier this year, the Advocate General suggested that the court’s ruling could be upheld.
IAEA: Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant still cooled with water reserve
Contrary to previous reports, the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant can still be cooled with water from the Dnipro River Basin. The water level drops on Tuesday’s dam breach and dropped below 12.7 meters on Thursday, the low previously set for cooling. The operator of the Kakhovka Dam said the nuclear power plant was to switch to a cooling water tank, but the International Atomic Energy Agency says it is not yet necessary.
The IAEA, which has a permanent presence at the nuclear power plant, estimates that the cooling can continue until the water level is around 11 meters, possibly even lower. The nuclear agency has previously reported that there is no acute danger anyway, because there is enough cooling water for several months. The cooling water tank of the nuclear plant is still completely full.
However, the IAEA is concerned about the safety of that tank due to shelling around the power plant. The reactors would also be able to use the water system of the nearby town of Enerhodar and the fire brigade could bring water in case of an emergency.
According to the IAEA, staff have been preparing for a possible collapse of the Kakhovka Dam since 2011. However, it is a “very difficult and unpredictable nuclear security situation”. The plant has already taken measures to limit water consumption.
Nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, the largest in Europe, was captured early in the Russian invasion. There is regular bombing in the area, which has repeatedly caused problems for the power supply of the nuclear complex. External energy is needed to cool nuclear power plant reactors and for other safety functions.
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