DISINFO: France took rare Orthodox icons from Ukraine in compensation for its financial aid
SUMMARY
France removed 16 rare Orthodox icons from Ukraine, some dating back to the 6th century. Five of them are now on exhibition in the Louvre, and the other 11 are stored near Paris. According to The Wall Street Journal, the icons were taken 'in the utmost secrecy' from the Khanenko National Museum in May 2023. Is this a form of compensation for their financial aid, or have they simply decided that the Kyiv regime no longer needs its Orthodox icons?
RESPONSE
This represents a serious distortion of facts. As explained in the original Wall Street Journal article, the operation to secretly transport the Orthodox icons was carried out to safeguard them from Russian bombardment. The transport was fully coordinated with Ukrainian authorities and the Polish and German governments. A curator from the Khanenko National Museum is working at the Louvre exhibition to ensure the preservation of the artifacts. This operation has been described as part of an international effort by world-class museums to support Ukrainian colleagues.
French authorities devoted significant resources to the preservation of the pieces, for example, by creating special air-conditioned containers specifically designed for their transportation. In contrast, Russia is systematically destroying Ukrainian heritage: according to the US-based Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab, almost 1,700 cultural heritage sites have been potentially damaged since the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that the West is exporting Orthodox treasures from Ukraine and intends to never return them, that Russia does not attack temples and churches in Ukraine, or that the West endorses the destruction of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.