Moscow : President of the Union of Museums of Russia Mikhail Piotrovsky, who is also the director of the State Hermitage Museum, confirmed that his country will work hard via the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on banning trading in Yemeni smuggled antiques, and resending them to Yemen.

In a meeting here on Monday with Yemen’s Ambassador to Russia Dr. Ahmad al-Wahishi, Piotrovsky was briefed on damages hit Yemeni historical and antique monuments as the greatest witness on catastrophic situations left by Houthi militia’s war. Al-Wahishi pointed out that the Yemeni manuscripts, antiques and antiquities, which have been looted and smuggled, date back to thousands of years.

Piotrovsky, who also chairs the Russian-Yemeni Friendship Society, made it clear that many committees in the UNESCO’s International Museum Council’s meetings suggested banning selling smuggled antiquities from heritage-rich countries and trading in them in international markets. He reviewed activities to be organized by the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg on the 90th anniversary of the Russian-Yemeni Friendship.

—AB/UNA-OIC