Investigation Uncovers Key Figures Behind the Looting of 33,000 Artifacts From Kherson Museums

Kyiv Independent posted an investigation on January 23, revealing who was involved in stealing the cultural artifacts from the art and local history museums in Kherson during the Russian army’s retreat from the city in November 2022.

The investigation shows that over 33,000 pieces of art and historical artifacts were looted and with the following parties involved:

• Dmitry Lipov, head of the communications center for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and the “commandant” of Kherson during the Russian occupation.

• Sergey Patrushev, head of the museum department at the Ministry of Culture in temporarily occupied Crimea.

• Elena Morozova, director of the “Kherson Tavriyskyi” Museum in Crimea.

• Mikhail Smorodkin, director of the Sevastopol Defense Museum.

To uncover their identities, investigative journalist Yevheniya Motorevska posed as a producer for a Russian TV channel or a staff member of Russia’s Investigative Committee, speaking with Kherson residents who had sided with Russia and assisted in removing museum artifacts.

Motorevska discovered that leaders of Crimean museums selected the art to be taken from Kherson, while Black Sea Fleet officer Dmitry Lipov oversaw the security of the collections and personally sealed the trucks transporting the artifacts.

On September 30, Ukraine’s language Ombudsman reported that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian forces have destroyed or damaged almost 1000 libraries.