UNESCO fears Ukraine harm as Russian culture backlash grows

By NICOLE WINFIELD and MIKE CORDER
Associated Press

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — An Amsterdam museum has cut its close links to the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg to protest the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In another move to culturally isolate Moscow, the Swedish Academy that hands out the prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature broke its long tradition of not making political statements and condemned the invasion. The Academy expressed its “abhorrence of the Russian government’s unjustified attack on Ukraine and its people.” UNESCO, meanwhile, warned of damage to Ukraine’s cultural heritage. The country is home to seven UNESCO World Heritage sites, including the famous St. Sophia Cathedral and related monastic buildings in the capital Kyiv.