The SSU has found and helped to hand over ancient icons to the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Lithuania in Kherson, which had been stolen by russian invaders during the occupation of the city.

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, ruscists robbed the house of a foreign diplomat in Kherson stealing over 120 antiquities.

The icons were then transferred to a private collection of the archimandrite of the local diocese of moscow patriarchate’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The cleric is currently hiding from justice in the temporarily occupied territory of southern Ukraine.

After Kherson’s liberation, the SSU found the stolen icons in the Assumption Cathedral.

There, ruscists brought the looted items presenting this as ‘returning’ of cultural property supposedly belonging to the aggressor state.

Invaders involved leadership of the former occupation administration in the city and kremlin propagandists in the media coverage of this ‘process’.

The SSU initiated the return of the antiquities to the rightful owner.

The Honorary Consul thanked the SSU for this and announced his decision to hand over the ancient collection to the local art museum.

The SSU Office in Kherson Region has been working on the case under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor’s Office.