In Madrid, law enforcers arrested 5 members of the criminal network, which was engaged in the illegal export of cultural property from Ukraine, during the arrest were seized 11 gold items worth more than €60 million, reports the National police of Spain.
“Operatives arrested five people, thus eliminating the criminal network engaged in the illegal export of cultural property from Ukraine. The seized items – gold jewelry of great historical and economic value – were stolen, illegally exported and were to be sold in Madrid,” reads the report published on the website of the Spanish police on Monday.
The investigation was reportedly carried out with the participation of the attachés for internal affairs of Bulgaria, Ukraine, Albania, Northern Macedonia and Cyprus, as well as the International Cooperation Division.
The investigation found that the criminals, in order to conceal the origin of the jewelry, accompanied them with documents in Ukrainian, English and Spanish, which confirmed their belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
At the same time, the defendants transferred ownership and the right to dispose of them to the main suspect in the case, an Orthodox priest who lives in Madrid.
Investigators first seized the gold belt with rams’ heads from the main suspect in 2021, when the priest tried to sell it privately to a businessman in Madrid.
Thanks to cooperation with the Security Service of Ukraine, the Spanish police established that the jewelry, which was placed as exhibits at an exhibition held in a museum in Kiev between 2009 and 2013, fell into the hands of the priest, who in collusion with a second person of the same nationality and with the help of third parties forged documents confirming the origin of cultural property and accreditation of its owner.
As a result of the investigation, it was found that the jewelry was illegally exported from Ukraine until May 2016.
It is noted that all seized items belong to the Greco-Scythian culture VIII-IV centuries BC, at the moment they are under study in the National Archaeological Museum and the Spanish Institute of cultural heritage.
Law enforcers are continuing their investigation.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko and Madrid Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida have signed an agreement on twinning between the two cities, the press service of the Mayor of Kyiv has reported.
“Today, a memorandum of twinning between our cities was signed with the mayor of Madrid, Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida. Madrid became the first Spanish sister city of Kyiv. This is a historic event for our cities and it happened during the historic NATO summit, which is taking place these days in Madrid,” Klitschko said.
He noted that when signing the agreement, several joint projects of Kyiv and Madrid were planned.
“I thank our Western partners, our Spanish partners for supporting Ukraine at this critical time for it. And I am convinced that our cooperation with Madrid will be effective and beneficial for our capitals. Today Madrid accepts refugees from Ukraine, provides humanitarian assistance to Kyiv and Ukraine. We also discussed many projects that we plan to jointly implement in the Ukrainian and Spanish capitals,” Klitschko summed up.
The Ukrainian airline SkyUp opens flights from Kiev to the Spanish capital Madrid. The first flight is scheduled for October 18, the airline’s press service has said.
“SkyUp Airlines opens flights Kiev – Madrid – Kiev. It will be possible to travel twice a week: on Mondays and Fridays. Departures from Kyiv are scheduled in the morning,” the airline said.
The Irish low-cost air carrier Ryanair from October 2019 will open flights from Kyiv to Madrid.
According to the airline’s press release, flights on the Kyiv-Madrid route will be operated four times a week as part of the Ryanair Kyiv Winter 2019 extended schedule, which will be launched shortly.
“The full schedule of Ryanair Kyiv Winter 2019 will be made public soon,” the airline said.
Flights will be carried out from Boryspil International Airport.
As reported, Ryanair announced that in 2019 it plans to open five new flights from Ukraine to Athens (Greece), Dublin (Ireland), Manchester (the United Kingdom), Sofia (Bulgaria), and Paphos (Cyprus) twice a week.
