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PUTIN'S GRAVE ROBBERS
Sick Russian soldiers steal human remains from sacred crypt in southern Ukraine
SICK Russian soldiers stole human remains from a sacred crypt in southern Ukraine.
They took the bones of legendary Prince Grigory Potemkin days before fleeing the prized city of Kherson.
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Armed agents burst into St Catherine’s Cathedral and ordered priests to give them the coffin.
Russian Potemkin helped conquer Crimea and a swathe of Ukraine in the late 1700s.
President Vladimir Putin invoked him to justify his war as a bid to reclaim his nation’s glorious past.
Priest Father Illia, 39, told The Sun: “There was nothing we could do.”
READ MORE ON UKRAINE WAR
Defence Editor Jerome was allowed to access the vault via a trapdoor surrounded by candles.
Steps led down to a warm, domed chamber where Potemkin’s bones had been kept in a small black bag inside the coffin on top of a stone plinth.
Fr Illia accused the grave robbers of “stealing history”, adding: “These people want to resurrect the past”.
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