Ukraine scrambles to solve riddle of stolen Dutch art

A Dutch museum claims that a Ukrainian militia with powerful political allies demanded millions of euro to return a trove of stolen 17th-century paintings, in what those accused call a Russian-orchestrated plot to discredit Kiev’s pro-western authorities.

Twenty-four paintings and silverware vanished from the Westfries Museum in the Dutch city of Hoorn on January 9th, 2005, when thieves hid in the building until nightfall before making off with a haul valued at the time at €10 million.

The museum revealed this week that two men approached the Dutch embassy in Kiev in July, saying they represented the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), and could return the art for a “finders’ fee” of €5 million.

“This OUN militia claimed to have the complete collection of stolen paintings . . . A photo showing one of the paintings accompanied by a current Ukrainian newspaper was presented as proof for this claim,” the museum said.

"The militia stated that it was prepared to hand over the paintings to the Netherlands on certain conditions, one of which was that the Ukrainian authorities were not to be involved."

The museum asked Dutch art crime investigator Arthur Brand to negotiate with the men, and in August he visited Kiev and met Borys Humenyuk, who has links to the OUN and to Svoboda, an ultra-nationalist political party.

Finders’ fee

Mr Brand says he dismissed Mr Humenyuk’s estimate that the paintings were worth €50 million, and told him the art would now probably fetch only €500,000, and that the museum could pay a finders’ fee of just €50,000 .

“Borys said that would be difficult to explain to [his] people,” Mr Brand told Ukrainian television this week.

The museum says negotiations with Mr Humenyuk broke down at that point, and subsequently talks “on the highest political levels were held but to no avail”.

“At present, there are serious indications that the current owners of the stolen art are attempting to sell it to others,” the museum warned.

Mr Brand claims his investigation revealed the important role played in the affair by the leader of Svoboda, Oleh Tyahnybok, and also the possible involvement of Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, a former head of Ukraine’s security service.

"That is total nonsense! I'm appealing to Interpol and Dutch law enforcement agencies to investigate and establish the real criminals," Mr Nalyvaichenko said in response.

Svoboda said it was “outraged” by the claims against Mr Tyahnybok, and suggested Mr Brand’s sources were linked to “Moscow, or representatives of a ‘fifth column’ in Ukraine”.

A party statement rejected Mr Brand's "targeted, defamatory attack, intended to discredit not only our leader but the whole nationalist movement, which is selflessly battling the Muscovite occupier in eastern Ukraine. "

Anonymous sources

Mr Humenyuk insists he simply told the Dutch embassy what he had heard from “anonymous sources”, about paintings that had been found in a villa in eastern Ukraine, scene of an 18-month conflict that has killed more than 9,000 people.

He also suspects a Russian plot to discredit Kiev in the eyes of the Netherlands, where a non-binding referendum will be held next April on a major political and trade deal to closely link Ukraine with the European Union.

“Maybe Brand thought he would become a hero of the Netherlands by returning the pictures and, when he realised he couldn’t do it, he decided to become a hero of Russia,” Mr Humenyuk said. Mr Brand dismisses such claims.

It is not clear whether the paintings are now in territory controlled by Russian-backed separatists or Kiev's forces but, under EU and US pressure to fight corruption, Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has ordered an investigation.

Kiev’s foreign minister, Pavlo Klimkin, called the case “very important for those attempting to spoil our image, which is critical ahead of the referendum due on April 6th”.

“Now, both [Ukraine’s] interior ministry and the Dutch embassy are engaged in this. I hope our co-ordinated efforts will bring success.”