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UNESCO adds ancient Crimea ruins to heritage danger list
AFP
Kyiv, Ukraine: UNESCO added an ancient city in Crimea to its list of endangered heritage sites Thursday, saying the site was “under threat” from construction work and archaeological activities while under Russian occupation.
The ruins of Chersonese, founded by Dorian Greeks in the fifth century BC, are more than 2,000 years old and considered among the most important archaeological sites in the Black Sea region.
UNESCO placed the city on its list of World Heritage Sites in 2013, but has been unable to access the property since Russia seized the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
The UN culture body has since expressed alarm over satellite imagery showing construction work at the site, including what Ukraine says is a brand new “amphitheatre” built by the Russian-installed authorities.
In a draft decision adopted Thursday, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee warned the site was “under threat as a result of a significant loss of authenticity and integrity arising from new construction and associated extensive archaeological excavations”.
It urged “all parties currently associated with the state of conservation of the property to refrain from any action that would cause further irreversible direct or indirect damages to the property”.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Andriy Sybiga welcomed the decision, saying in a post on X that the site was being “ruined by Russian occupation authorities”.
Russia said it did not recognise the ruling.
“We are doing everything possible to preserve the ancient city and its monuments,” Russia’s UNESCO representative, Rinat Alyautdinov, said.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, UNESCO has recorded damage to more than 500 cultural sites across the country, including dozens of churches, museums and monuments.
Last month, a Russian strike sparked a blaze at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site venerated by Orthodox Christians.
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