Today, on April 19, was held a meeting of the Commission on Competitive Selection of Legal Entities Engaged in the Sale of Seized Assets, chaired by the Deputy Head of ARMA - Head of the Commission Grigol Katamadze. 

The Commission includes representatives of ARMA, Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and Ministry of Economy of Ukraine. 

At the meeting, the Commission discussed the start start of selling Medvedchuk's seized paintings. Commission's decision announced the start of the competition and set the date for selecting the winner - May 9, 2024

After approving the agenda, G. Katamadze informed the Commission members that ARMA had sent a letter to the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine with a proposal to engage experts to conduct the examination.

If the collection contains paintings that are considered to be a cultural value for the state or determined to be objects of museum value, the Agency's Commission may decide to suspend the sale of such paintings.

"ARMA does not choose a buyer, ARMA chooses a legal entity on the Prozorro.Sale platform that will sell the asset," stressed Head of the Commission.

Grigol Katamadze also drew the attention of the Commission members to the fact that the Medvedchuk's paintings seized in 2022 have been stored in a separate room of the National Art Museum all this time, in accordance with the necessary conditions and temperature regime. 

According to Deputy Chairman of the Commission Stanislav Petrov, if the facts of identifying paintings of cultural value among the collection are confirmed, the Commission will decide to suspend the sale of such paintings and take measures to preserve them for the state.

" Both from our side and the auction platform, we will provide full and comprehensive assistance to the Ministry of Culture's specialists in the auction preparation", said Stanislav Petrov.

ARMA's proposal will, on the one hand, allow to continue funding the state budget, which is so necessary for Ukraine, especially in times of war, and, on the other hand, preserve the masterpieces of cultural heritage for posterity.