The International Council of Museums (ICOM) must formally examine the role of Russian museum institutions in the destruction, appropriation, and propaganda use of Ukrainian cultural heritage.
Russia’s aggression against Ukraine represents a distinct case of deliberate cultural heritage destruction carried out by a state’s regular army with the involvement of state cultural institutions and members of Russia’s professional museum community, including members of the Russian National Committee of ICOM.
ICOM Russia and its members have systematically violated the ICOM Statutes, the ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums, and norms of international humanitarian law.
These violations include:
Illegal museum activity in occupied territories
Russian museum institutions have conducted museum activities and transferred collections without the consent of Ukraine, the lawful owner. These actions help legitimize occupation and annexation through cultural institutions.
Illegal excavations and interference with heritage sites
At the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Tauric Chersonese, archaeological layers are being destroyed under the guise of “improvement works,” while the museum narrative is being replaced with pseudo-historical claims about the site as the “cradle of Russian Orthodoxy.”
The use of museums as tools of propaganda
Russian museums in occupied territories are being used for military propaganda, campaigns supporting the Russian army, dehumanizing exhibitions, and the militarization of children. This directly contradicts the social mission of museums and ICOM’s principle of professional independence.
These actions are part of the Russian Federation’s centralized state policy, in which culture is used as a tool to control historical memory and destroy Ukrainian identity.
ICOM Ukraine has repeatedly brought these facts to the attention of the international museum community. Yet appeals from Ukrainian museum professionals have not received an adequate response.
In February 2025, Tytych & Partners Law Firm an institutional member of ICOM, submitted an official request to ICOM’s President, Director General, and Chair of the Ethics Committee. The request called for a comprehensive review of whether the Russian National Committee of ICOM complies with ICOM’s governing documents and Code of Ethics for Museums.
The request was supported by leading museums that are institutional members of ICOM.
As of May 2026, ICOM leadership has not responded.
ICOM’s silence is unacceptable when its members may be involved in the looting, destruction, and propaganda use of the cultural heritage of an occupied country.
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Read the letter from Vitaliy Tytych, Attorney at Law at Tytych & Partners Law Firm and Chair of the Board of the Raphael Lemkin Society, addressed to ICOM Director General Medea Ekner.
