The op-ed calls for the exclusion of ICOM Russia under Article 7.2 of ICOM's Code of Ethics and lists evidence of institutional plundering—including 77 Ukrainian museums now included in the Russian state catalogue. It was reprinted in ARTNews (George Nelson, May 6 and 20), Finestre sull'Arte (May 8), and the British Overseas Chinese Art Network. This op-ed precedes by two weeks the EU's decision to sanction Morozova. The op-ed remains open for signatures.

→ Sign the petition at pourlukraine.com

“Ukraine never existed ,” Putin and Russian ideologues repeat ad nauseam. Their version of history is not purely rhetorical: it fuels a campaign aimed at systematically erasing Ukraine’s centuries-old cultural identity. As of April 16, UNESCO had counted 494 sites destroyed or damaged since February 24, 2022, including 149 religious buildings, 257 historical buildings, 33 monuments (including those commemorating the Holocaust), 18 libraries, 34 museums, and 2 archaeological sites.

However, Moscow's objective is not solely destruction. It also involves appropriating Ukrainian heritage, "Russifying" it whenever possible. From the moment of the Crimean occupation in February 2014, a systematic policy of redefining cultural identity was implemented. Thousands of works of art were transferred from Crimean museums to Russian institutions.

In 2016, the Tretyakov Gallery hosted a major exhibition of the 19th-century marine painter Ivan Aivazovsky (1817-1900): of the 120 works on display, 38 came from Crimean collections. Despite protests from the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, major European museums continued to collaborate with the Tretyakov Gallery until the large-scale invasion of 2022. Similarly, the archaeological site of Chersonesus, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was meticulously dismantled, looted, and repurposed to house, by July 2024, a museum complex including a new "Museum of Crimea and Novorossiya [New Russia] , " thus justifying Russian claims of "reconquest" of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Since February 2022, looting has intensified in the newly occupied territories. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian artworks and cultural artifacts have been moved to Crimea or Russia. In Kherson, curators linked to pro-Kremlin historical societies, guided by officers of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia's domestic intelligence agency, directed Russian forces in the looting of the Oleksiy Shovkunenko Museum and the local history museum. More than 13,000 objects were stolen. In Mariupol, Russian military personnel seized major works by Arkhip Kuindzhi (1841–2010) and Ivan Aivazovsky. As for the collection of "Scythian gold" housed in the Melitopol local history museum, it has simply vanished.

These systematic plunderings correspond to a clear political agenda: to realize the imperial fantasy of a “Greater Russia .” The supposed “historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians ,” invoked by Vladimir Putin in a speech on July 12, 2021, is, in fact, a denial of Ukraine’s right to exist as an independent nation. It is this vision that is enshrined in law by the Duma’s vote on constitutional amendments legitimizing Russia’s annexation of Crimea and four oblasts in eastern and southern Ukraine. In May 2023, “methodological recommendations for creating exhibitions dedicated to the history of the ‘special military operation’ in museums of the Russian Federation” were published and almost immediately implemented by Russian museum directors, particularly in institutions “partnered” with museums located in the occupied territories.

Under the auspices of the Russian Historical Society, museum staff in what is known as Novorossiya are being trained (as in Rostov-on-Don in October 2024) to "recatalogue" Ukrainian collections within the Russian museum system and align their cultural programming with the Kremlin's historical revisionism. Today, the collections of 77 Ukrainian museums in the occupied territories are included in the State Catalogue of Museum Funds of the Russian Federation.

These acts, although "legalized" by decrees issued for the occasion, are nonetheless violations of international law, particularly the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, to which Russia is a signatory. The arguments in favor of legal responsibility are compelling. The evidence is abundant, and some perpetrators have themselves documented their crimes.

Several Russian museum directors have been identified as accomplices, one of the most outspoken being Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of the Hermitage [in Saint Petersburg] and a self-proclaimed "imperialist ," who ideologically justified the looting. It is hoped that the application of international law will one day lead to the condemnation of these crimes and the restitution of the stolen property. However, legal proceedings can take decades. In the meantime, Russian art dealers are already re-establishing connections with collectors at major international art fairs, notably in Maastricht [Netherlands] .

Urgent measures are therefore necessary, and concrete decisions can be made immediately: Russia and Russian museum staff involved in the looting of Ukrainian collections in the occupied territories must be excluded from the International Council of Museums (ICOM). Article 7.2 of the ICOM Code of Ethics clearly states this: “Museum policy must take into account international law, which serves as the standard for the interpretation of the ICOM Code of Ethics.”

The continued membership of institutions and individuals involved in the destruction, looting, and falsification of cultural heritage within ICOM constitutes a flagrant violation of these principles. Expelling Russia from ICOM is the very least one can expect from an institution governed by French law and dedicated to the protection of cultural heritage and the application of ethical standards in international museum cooperation. Numerous national committees have already called for this sanction, so far without success. Will it be necessary for the French courts to compel ICOM to respect its own rules?

The opinion piece is supported by:

Konstantin Akinsha , art historian, curator of the exhibition “In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine 1900-1930”

Harald Binder , founder of the Jam Factory Art Center in Lviv

Vanessa Branson , founder of the Marrakech Biennale

Emmanuel Daoud , lawyer at the ICC

Carl Michael von Hausswolff , composer, artist and curator.

Sylvie Rollet , President of For Ukraine, for their freedom and ours!

Olga Sagaïdak , President of the Coalition of Cultural Actors, former director of the Ukrainian Institute in France

Francesca Thyssen Bornemisza , founder of “Museums for Ukraine”

Vitalit Tytych , Head of Legal Affairs at ICOM Ukraine, President of the Raphael Lemkin Lawyers Association

Signatories

Museums and libraries

1. Olena Andrianova , director, Ukraine

2. Olga Apenko , museum curator, Ukraine

3. Iryna Brunda , library director, Ukraine

4. Michèle Bruni , scientific collections manager, France

5. Gisèle Caumont , Honorary Conservation Officer, France

6. Yan Ciret, writer, exhibition curator, producer for Radio France, France

7. Elisabeth Delahaye , Honorary Curator of Heritage, France

8. Nataliia Dziuba , museum director, Ukraine

9. Barbara Essaïan , easel painting conservator-restorer, France

10. Olha Frasyniuk , museum employee, Ukraine

11. Liudmila Gubianuri , director of the Kyiv Mikhail Bulgakov Museum , Kyiv, Ukraine

12. Svitlana Hodun , librarian, Ukraine

13. Hanna Klymenko , Head of Education at Mystetskyi Arsenal National Art and Culture Museum, Ukraine

14. Vasyl Kmet , PhD in History, Director of the Lviv Municipal Library , Ukraine

15. Liana Komardenko , Educational Department Manager at Mystetskyi arsenal Art and Culture Museum , Ukraine

16. Evelina Kravchenko, doctor, archaeologist, Ukraine

17. Ihor Kulyk , Director, Sectoral Archives of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (National Remembrance Archives), Ukraine

18. Alla Kutsokin (Алла Куцокінь) , librarian, Ukraine

19. Mayatska Lesia , librarian, Ukraine

20. Yuliia Lysiuk , Librarian, Ukraine

21. Yuliia Machkovska , painting restorer, Ukraine

22. Uliana Moroz , director of the Lviv Regional Puppet Theatre, Ukraine

23. Natalia Mytsai, Director of OKZ National Literary and Memorial Museum GS Skovoroda , Ukraine (Наталія Мицай, Директор ОКЗ "Національний літературно-меморіальний музей Г.С.

24. Olha Novikova , Museum Employee, Ukraine

25. Natalia Novosyelova , Librarian, Ukraine

26. Tetyana Prodan , project manager at the Solomiya Krushelnytska Museum of Music and Remembrance in Lviv, Ukraine

27. Hanna Putova , Senior Research Fellow, Kyiv City History Museum

28. Olena Radzyvill (Олена Радзивілл), Maliivci Regional History and Culture Museum, Ukraine

29. Ingrid Rose , Paper Conservator, USA

30. Hanna Rudyk , Deputy Director of the Khanenko National Museum , Ukraine

31. William Saadé , Honorary Curator of Heritage, France and Switzerland

32. Maksym Sagaidak , conservative, Ukraine

33. Victoria Samokhina , Academician, National Academy of Higher Education of Ukraine

34. Christine Vallat , librarian, France