She and other staff members secretly hid it and some other historic artifacts in cardboard boxes, stashing the boxes in a dank cellar where they didn’t think anyone would find it.
“We knew that any second someone could come into the museum with a weapon,” she said.
In mid-March, Ms. Ibrahimova said Russian troops burst into her house with assault rifles, threw a black hood over her head and kidnapped her.
They commanded her to take them to the Scythian gold.
What was stolen: at least 198 gold items, including ornaments in the form of flowers; gold plates; rare old weapons; 300-year-old silver coins; and special medals.
She said many of the gold artifacts had been given to the Scythians by the Greeks.
A Dane and a Briton have also died fighting for Ukraine since the start of the war, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. »