By decree of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy dated August 3, 2025, No. 580, the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) to impose personal sanctions on 15 citizens of the Russian Federation—leaders of major Russian museum institutions actively involved in promoting anti-Ukrainian policies in the museum sector—has been enacted.
The initiative was prepared by the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine in cooperation with the Ukrainian National Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and the NGO “Ukrainian Economic Security Council.”
On July 15, 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted Resolution No. 714-r "On submitting proposals regarding the application of personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions)."
Sanctions were imposed on the leadership of several Russian museum institutions, including the State Borodino Military-Historical Museum-Reserve, the Russian Ethnographic Museum, the State Museum-Reserve “Peterhof,” the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, the museum-reserves “Kulikovo Field,” “Island-Town of Sviyazhsk,” and “Tarkhany,” as well as the Andrei Rublev Central Museum of Ancient Russian Culture and Art, the Orenburg Regional Museum of Fine Arts, the Chuvash National Museum, the Yasnaya Polyana Leo Tolstoy Estate Museum, and others. Some of the individuals are also members of the leadership of the Union of Museums of Russia, the ICOM Russia presidium, and various public bodies that promote Russia’s occupation cultural policy.
Sanctions target individuals who:
- Organize the illegal registration of Ukrainian cultural valuables in the Russian state museum catalog;
- Personally visited temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine after February 2022;
- Participate in activities aimed at legitimizing the occupation regime, including Russian indoctrination projects for children and youth;
- Publicly promote narratives that justify or deny Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine.
“Russian museums are actively involved in the unprecedented theft of Ukrainian cultural heritage from the occupied territories. This includes not only the physical removal or inventorying of museum valuables but also attempts to erase Ukrainian cultural identity entirely. We are working to hold the aggressor state accountable,” said Tetiana Berezhna, Acting Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine.
Since 2014, the Russian Federation has systematically pursued an occupation policy in the museum sector, particularly in Crimea, Sevastopol, and the temporarily occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Through cultural institutions, Russia attempts to normalize the occupation, spread disinformation, and conduct propaganda.
According to the Ukrainian National Committee of ICOM, as of March 2025, the Russian Federation’s open state museum catalog already contains information on 39 Ukrainian museums located in territories temporarily occupied after 2022. By comparison, in August 2024, there were only 6 such museums—indicating a rapid escalation in Russia’s cultural appropriation policy.
These actions directly violate the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. Instead of safeguarding cultural heritage in occupied territories, the Russian Federation is officially appropriating museum collections and institutions for propaganda purposes.
Sanctions also aim to prevent specific Russian individuals from being elected to leadership roles within the International Council of Museums (ICOM). In particular, Artyom Silkin and Halyna Alekseyeva, both on the sanctions list, are candidates at the upcoming ICOM General Assembly in Dubai in November 2025.
The next step will be advocating for the introduction of similar sanctions at the EU level. Even sanctions targeting individual figures can set an important precedent—calling into question the continued participation of aggressor state representatives involved in cultural plunder in international forums and elections to the governing bodies of respected cultural institutions.
In this context, Ukraine's firm stance on protecting the museum sector is of particular importance. Countering its militarization, use for propaganda, and illicit trafficking of cultural assets is one of the key tools for strengthening national security and fostering long-term international solidarity.
