Authorities should protect archaeological underwater findings. For this purpose, the Russian deputies and senators are discussing the corresponding draft law, as per the paper Izvestia.
This question was raised when many underwater discoveries were made during the construction of the Kerch Bridge in the Crimean peninsula. First of all, this draft should provide a clear definition of “Underwater Cultural Heritage” to preserve treasures found at the bottom of the sea.
According to Olga Kovitidi representing Crimea in Russia’s upper house of the Parliament, currently there are some contradictions in the legislation. The Federal Law “About objects of cultural heritage” stipulates that subjects of the Russian Federation are responsible for protection of underwater monuments. However, the Federal Act on the internal marine waters, territorial sea and contiguous zones of the Russian Federation states that water area is not included into the territory of subjects of the Russian Federation.
At present, discovered artifacts cannot be registered as objects of cultural heritage and, consequently, do not belong to anybody. The existing law does not protect findings from illegal archaeologists as well.
It should be mentioned that archaeologists found a head of the ancient Greek God a few days ago during the construction of the Kerch Bridge. Supposedly, the sculpture dates back V century B.C.
All findings from the bottom of the Azov and Black Seas became a part of the exposition “The Crimean Bridge. Fantastic Reality”. At present, more than sixty thousand artifacts were discovered by the archaeologists and builders.
Russkiy Mir
