Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has instructed the Ukrainian Security Service to verify reports concerning paintings stolen from the Netherlands.
“The president has instructed the Security Service to look into information coming from the Netherlands concerning the stolen paintings,” Ukrainian presidential press secretary Svyatoslav Tseholko told Interfax in response to a request for comments on the situation on Wednesday evening.
It was reported earlier that Westfries Museum spokesman Arthur Brand had said that, an OUN battalion was in possession of the collection of 24 paintings stolen from the museum in 2005, which attempted to charge 50 million euro for it.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said Ukraine is maintaining contact with the Netherlands regarding the stolen paintings. “A group of people discovered a collection at a country house outside Donetsk, and it has been identified as one having relation to the collection that disappeared from the Dutch museum several years ago,” Avakov said.
“It is possible that attempts have been made to sell this collection on the black market, and we are working on this,” he said.
