Kiev Lavra awards law enforcers having returned a “Viking Sword” to Ukraine

On 14 March at Kiev-Pechersk Historic and Cultural Sanctuary an order “For achievements in the development of culture and art” was granted to two SBU law enforcers having neutralized an international smuggling group trading in antiquity, reports the UOJ journalist who attended the event.

A solemn ceremony was held in one of the exhibition halls of the Sanctuary. Journalists were demonstrated a medieval artifact – the Viking Sword. “Dark archeologists” dug it out in Volyn and illegally exported it from Ukraine.

An attempt was made to take away a unique weapon to Russia last year. However, on the border between Estonia and Russia a suspicious cargo was stopped. The smugglers assured a Scandinavian sword belonged to the north of Russia, yet they were not able to prove the legitimacy of their claims on the historic item. .

Estonian law enforcement officers were positive about verifications of the Ukrainian counterpart, though. As a result, in May 2016 the sword was returned from Tallin to Ukraine by air. At that very time SBU started a criminal proceeding on smuggling of cultural valuables. A criminal group was detained including 5 citizens of Ukraine and 2 citizens of Belarus who were involved in the “Viking Sword” smuggling case. During the search there were confiscated over 1000 archeological artifacts undergoing expert review at the moment.

Art experts and archeologists who had their speeches during the ceremony underlined a big historical value of the ancient sword which is nearly 1000 years by the experts’ calculations. “This sword is most likely decorated with silver. It means it is of high rank and could not belong to a rank-and-file warrior,” said to the journalists Maxim Levada, a research fellow of the Ukrainian Center for Cultural Studies.

Simultaneously with this artifact awaiting restoration, another two renovated swords of Х-ХІ centuries were on display, which had been found in Chernigov region and Khortitsa island in Zaporozhye. The findings will be transferred to the State Museum Fund of Ukraine.