Dutch court needs more time to rule on Crimean treasures

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – An appeals court in Amsterdam says it needs more time to rule on the ownership of a valuable trove of historical artefacts loaned to a Dutch museum by four museums in Crimea shortly before the region’s 2014 annexation by Russia.

In an interim ruling on Tuesday, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal says it needs “greater clarity” on the competing claims by Ukraine and the museums in Crimea. The court says it expects to deliver a final judgment in six to nine months.

Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea left the approximately 300 artefacts in a legal limbo, as both Ukraine and the Crimean museums now controlled by Russia have demanded their return by Amsterdam’s Allard Pierson Museum. The Dutch museum had borrowed the artifacts for an exhibition that opened a month before the annexation.