The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) claims multiple facts of barbaric treatment and looting of World Heritage sites in the temporarily occupied Crimea by the Russian occupation authorities.
This is stated in the UNESCO report on the 212th session of its Executive Board.
“Russia has appropriated Ukrainian cultural property on the peninsula, including 4,095 national and local monuments under state protection[…] Russia uses such appropriation to implement its comprehensive long-term strategy to strengthen its historical, cultural and religious dominance over the past, present and future of Crimea,” the organization’s experts say.
Putin regime officials use all the artifacts to carry out further historical manipulations. Objects of historical importance are being taken from Crimea are exhibited in different parts of the Russian Federation, where they are presented as achievements of “Russian culture.”
At the same time, the most cynical part is that the occupiers, amid unauthorized archeological excavations or urban construction, actually destroy traces of Crimean Tatars’ cultural presence on the occupied peninsula.
In particular, it is reported that in the summer of 2021, excavations started where heavy equipment was involved, as a result of which the historic settlement of Tauric Chersonese is facing destruction.
In addition, a number of Muslim burial sites were destroyed to allow unobstructed laying of the Tavrida Highway to the Kerch Bridge.
In addition, the UNESCO report states that the occupation authorities in Crimea regularly deny Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars the right to receive education in their native language.
