The icons stolen by the Russians in Kherson were returned to the consul of Lithuania. He will transfer the collection to the museum

The collection of icons that the Russian occupiers stole from his residence in Kherson was returned to the Lithuanian diplomat. They were found by the Security Service of Ukraine on the territory of the Uspensky Cathedral.

This was reported in the press service of the SBU.

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Russians looted the house of a foreign diplomat in Kherson and took away more than 120 antiquities.

The icons were transferred to the private collection of the archimandrite of the local diocese of the UOC MP. He is currently hiding in the temporarily occupied territory in the south of Ukraine.

The occupiers "handed over" looted things to the Uspensky Cathedral under the guise of "returning" cultural values that supposedly belonged to Russia. This event was covered by propaganda media.

The security service initiated the return of the icons to the owner. The consul of Lithuania decided to transfer the ancient collection to the local art museum.

• The Russian occupiers also took 80% of the paintings from the Oleksiy Shevkunenko Kherson Art Museum to Crimea. They stole the most valuable: paintings by Western artists, Ukrainian and Russian 18th-19th century, Soviet times, but they left the works of modern artists, so there is an idea to transform the museum into a modern art gallery.