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russia's Use of Ukrainian Cultural Heritage in the War Against Ukraine: The Crimean Case

An analysis of russia's systemic use of the cultural heritage of temporarily occupied Crimea as symbolic capital in the war against Ukraine. The article examines two prominent case studies: the instrumentally politicized use of Tauric Chersonesus and the campaign declaring Kerch the "oldest city in russia."

Overview

Following the seizure of Crimea in 2014, russia unleashed not only a conventional and hybrid war, but also a geocultural one — the systemic use of the cultural heritage of occupied territories to justify aggression and deny Ukrainian identity. Ukraine's economic losses from the occupation are colossal (10 billion m³ of gas from Ukrainian fields, drilling rigs worth $800 million), yet the geocultural war threatens the very existence of Ukrainian agency. The Kremlin uses the symbolic capital of Crimean monuments for pseudo-historical justification of the annexation and the legitimization of the occupation on the international stage.

Key Details / Subtopics

The Chersonesus Case

  • Putin's Speech of March 18, 2014: Quasi-historical justification of the annexation through the mention of Chersonesus as the baptism site of Prince Volodymyr. An attempt to symbolically "bind" Crimea to "russian civilization."
  • Sacralization of the Reserve (2015): Appointment of Archpriest Serhiy Khalyuta as director (July 2015), who lacked relevant professional education. Protests from M. Piotrovsky (Hermitage). Following the scandal, a scholar was appointed, but the landmark was placed directly under Moscow's jurisdiction as a "particularly valuable object of cultural heritage of the peoples of russia."
  • Putin's "russian Mecca" (2017): Putin's statement on the necessity to turn Chersonesus into a "russian Mecca" — shifting the focus from Orthodoxy to statehood.
  • The Cyprus Operation (2019): Exploitation of Chersonesus through the Noble Assembly of Crimea (A. Ushakov), the "Cultural Heritage of Crimea" Foundation, and the "Club of Friends of Tauric Chersonesus" in Cyprus aiming to legitimize the annexation within the EU. The exhibition "Sacred Objects of Chersonesus" in Limassol and Nicosia. Ukrainian Ambassador B. Humenyuk termed this a "Trojan horse tactic."
  • Violations of Legislation: Illegal relocation of items from Ukraine's museum holdings abroad, illegitimate excavations.

The Kerch Case

  • Campaign for the "Oldest City in russia" (since 2015): Following Derbent's anniversary, a public campaign was launched promoting Kerch (founded as Panticapaeum, 610–590 BCE) as the "oldest city in the rf." Data source — illegal excavations of the Bosporan Expedition headed by V. Tolstikov.
  • Participants: "Vice Prime Minister" L. Opanasyuk (January 2016), "head of government" S. Aksyonov (June 2016), director of the East Crimean Museum-Preserve T. Umrikhina, archaeologist O. Hertsen (CFU). The Academic Council of the Institute of Archaeology of the RAS confirmed the founding date as 7th–6th centuries BCE (June 2017).

Destruction of Kerch Monuments

  • Great Mithradates Stairs (arch. Digbi) — driving piles into the cultural layer during "restoration"; Obelisk of Glory (1944) — beginning of structural deterioration in 2018; columns of the ancient portico on Mount Mithridates — dismantled/damaged in early 2019. The Church of St. John the Baptist remains under threat.
  • "Meander" Company (St. Petersburg) — won the tender for the "restoration" of the Mithradates Stairs in July 2017. Dismantled Roman Serdyuk's gryphons and bowls (February 2018), chipped off historical tiles, drove 1,134 piles 30 m long to "stabilize the slope" — without archaeological excavation, even though the acropolis of Panticapaeum was located on the slope. Over 167 million rubles were spent inefficiently: the "restoration" was declared a failure (September 2018). The "old" gryphons were saved and moved to the Kerch Lapidarium.

Contradictions and Open Questions

  • The article mentions a "1969 CIA report" and "Kapshuk" in the context of Chersonesus, but the connection is not addressed in this source.
  • Conflicting accounts regarding the fate of the columns of the ancient portico on Mount Mithridates (dismantled due to threat of collapse vs. collapsed and sustained damage).