Ex-MP enters into agreement with investigation and agrees to hand over golden sword and gold icon to museum

Former MP Valerii Horbatov, who was exposed by the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) in the theft of cultural values ​​from the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, entered into an agreement with the investigation and agreed to hand over his collection to the museum, including a Hun gold sword and a Byzantine gold icon.

This was reported to Ukrainian News Agency by the State Bureau of Investigation.

During the pre-trial investigation, the former MP entered into a plea agreement and agreed to hand over his entire collection to the state, even with those exhibits that were not discovered during the searches. The National Museum of History of Ukraine received more than 7,000 unique archaeological treasures. The artifacts were discovered by State Bureau employees from a former MP who headed the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in the early 2000s.

This is the largest replenishment of the museum fund in the entire history of independent Ukraine. Some of the artifacts have already been presented to museum visitors, as they were transferred there for safekeeping.

We would like to remind you that in April 2022, the SBI employees discovered a collection of ancient Ukrainian artifacts at the former MP. In particular, a unique Hun sword with gold decoration, a golden Byzantine icon of the 11th – 12th centuries, jewelry, helmets, icons, and other items of historical and cultural value.

At that time, the SBI employees conducted six simultaneous searches. In one of the office premises in Kyiv belonging to the former MP, more than 6,000 units of historical and cultural values ​​were discovered. In particular, during the searches, Scythian Akinak swords, spears, axes, arrows, coins, 12th century chain mail, Hellenistic helmets, and dishes of the Trypillian culture were discovered.

During new searches in early May, another cache with a large collection of antiquities was discovered at the MP and members of his criminal group, which could also have been illegally removed from the Museum Fund of Ukraine or found during illegal excavations. More than a thousand artifacts were found, dating from the Bronze Age to the late Middle Ages. In particular, a Hun sword decorated with gold and almandines was seized. In terms of style, it resembles the famous Hun diadem from the Melitopol Museum, which was stolen by the russian occupiers. Armor from the 16th-19th centuries was also found, including helmets of Polish hussars, such as Morion, Iranian helmets, and coins from the periods from antiquity to the late Middle Ages. Law enforcement officers also found a Byzantine gold enamel-decorated icon depicting the Archangel Michael from the 11th-12th centuries, ancient and Scythian antiquities, icons, edged weapons from the 14th-19th centuries, the First and Second World Wars, swords from the era of the Great Migration of Peoples, etc.

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