ON THE ISSUE OF COMPENSATION FOR DAMAGE CAUSED TO CULTURAL VALUES DURING THE RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to study individual aspects of compensation for damage caused to cultural values during the Russian-Ukrainian war. In order to achieve the declared goal and obtain the appropriate results, the following combination of methods was used: historical and legal, methods of formal logic, grouping method. Results and conclusions of such activities. The destruction, removal and damage of Ukrainian cultural values during several historical periods significantly influenced the change in the cultural environment of the Ukrainian people, caused negative ethno-social, cultural and moral-psychological consequences for the Ukrainian state and society. The colonial policy of the Russian authorities of various historical periods (including the present day), which became a manifestation of "cultural genocide" against the Ukrainian people, had particularly negative consequences for Ukrainian culture. The purpose of such a policy is: appropriation of Ukrainian cultural values with the aim of passing them off as one's own, enriching and trying to assimilate the Ukrainian ethnic group. Encroachment on cultural values became especially large-scale during the First and Second World Wars, the temporary Russian occupation of the ARC and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, after the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into the territory of Ukraine. Since February 24, 2024, numerous facts of the use of cultural values to support military operations, the destruction and damage of cultural objects during hostilities (includingand purposefully), appropriation of cultural property on a large scale, committing acts of robbery and vandalism directed against cultural values, etc. Attempts to find and return cultural values were carried out by Ukraine during the existence of the Ukrainian Central Council, the Ukrainian State, the Ukrainian SSR and independent Ukraine. The basis of the international legal mechanism for the protection of cultural values and compensation for damage caused to them in the conditions of a military conflict, including make up its regulatory and institutional component. According to the norms of international legislation, the destruction of cultural and religious objects during military conflicts is subject to criminal prosecution, such international legal institutions of responsibility as restitution and reparations are applied to the state guilty of encroachment on cultural values. Attempts by Ukraine to protect cultural objects, to prosecute crimes against cultural heritage committed during the Russian-Ukrainian war, may face a number of difficulties.