ARMA to transfer 148 paintings by Medvedchuk to museum
3 September 2024 03:33
The Asset Recovery and Management Agency has received expert opinions onthe seized paintings that belonged to former MP Viktor Medvedchuk, a suspect in high treason. This was announced by the head of the ARMA, Olena Duma, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
Of the 284 paintings, 148 have cultural value and will be transferred to the National Art Museum of Ukraine. The remaining 136 paintings do not have significant cultural value and will be sold through Prozorro.Sale.
The Duma noted that the agency previously did not have a legislative mechanism to transfer seized assets and cultural property to national museums. This legislative mechanism may be created this week. This is the draft law No. 11280-1 on the specifics of managing cultural property and other assets.
As a reminder, in April 2022, during criminal proceedings , the State Bureau of Investigation and the Security Service of Ukraine arrested 264 paintings by Viktor Medvedchuk. By court order, they were transferred to the ARMA for sale.
on 17 April, ARMA announced that it planned to put the paintings from Medvedchuk’s collection up for sale. At the same time , at the initiative of the National Agency for the Preservation of the Cultural Heritage of Ukraine , experts were engaged to conduct an art historical examination of the paintings .
Medvedchuk’s collection includes works by twentieth-century Transcarpathian artists, including Yosyp Bokshay, Havrylo Gluck and Adalbert Erdeli, a landscape by painter Volodymyr Orlovsky, a painting by Ivan Aivazovsky, as well as icons made of amber and beads. Some of the paintings are worth up to $50,000.
Medvedchuk’s arrest
On 12 April 2022, Medvedchuk himself was arrested as a result of a special SBU operation. He is a defendant in several criminal cases of high treason and economic crimes.
on 21 September, Viktor Medvedchuk was exchanged for Ukrainian soldiers held by Russia. As a result, 215 Ukrainian defenders were returned from captivity.
