Ukraine launches database of artworks belonging to sanctioned Russians

The government ofUkraine has launched a database of artworks belonging to Russian citizens sanctioned by Western countries. The database is managed by Ukraine’s National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (Nazk) and aims to track the art objects in question to prevent illegal trade and exchange. The project is titled War & Art and , the agency explains, aims to strengthen sanctions policy in the art sphere and help track sanctions violations in global art market transactions.

The database currently includes about 300 pieces, including some works that once belonged to sanctioned citizens and have now ended up elsewhere: such is the case with the Salvator Mundi attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, formerly owned by billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev. The list of works includes works by Francis Bacon (a famous 1976 Triptych that the database says is owned by Roman Abramovich, worth $86 million: the site in fact also reports the value of the works), seven works by Modigliani including a 1916 Nude Lying on Blue Pillow , also by Dmitry Rybolovlev ($118 million), a version of Monet’s Water Lilies belonging to Andrei Mel’ničenko, a chemical magnate, two works of El Greco by Rybolovlev, and also the celebrated Portrait of a Young Man with Medallion by Sandro Botticelli, which will sell for 92 million euros at auction in 2021 (the owner’s name is not given).

“Russian oligarchs and other sanctioned individuals,” the database website reads, "can still easily hide and launder their money through art objects, despite the sanctions imposed on them. Paintings, sculptures, art jewelry-this is exactly what they use as a loophole to get around sanctions. War & Art will contribute to the prevention of sanctions evasion and the search for art assets of sanctioned persons with the goal of further freezing such assets, confiscating them and transferring them to Ukraine."

The information, Nazk notes, is gathered from open sources, but it also stresses that given the lack of official databases on the owners of art objects and the efforts of sanctioned individuals to hide the ownership of such assets, the information gathered on the portal needs further verification and confirmation in case of further use. The database at the moment actually has some data to adjust: in addition to the case of the Salvator Mundi that went the way of Saudi Arabia, the list of sanctioned individuals also includes Dasha Zhukova, founder of the Garage Museum, one of Moscow’s leading contemporary art museums, and former wife of Roman Abramovich (the woman is not subject to sanctions).

Ukraine launches database of artworks belonging to sanctioned Russians

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