Russia’s Assault on Cultural Heritage Threatens NATO, New Book Warns
November 9, 2026
Ukrainian and Allied Experts Identify Gaps in the Alliance’s Defenses and Chart a Path Forward
AMSTERDAM – October 9, 2026: Groundbreaking research and analysis published this month documents how Russia has made culture a weapon of war, on and off the battlefield. A NATO Agenda for Cultural Security: Countering Russia’s Exploitation of Cultural Heritage in Ukraine and Beyond is the latest volume in NATO’s Science for Peace and Security Series and is free to read through open access. The volume is the second step in an initiative led by the U.S.-based Antiquities Coalition and the Raphael Lemkin Society of Ukraine, with NATO support, and offers practical recommendations for how the Alliance can respond. It brings together an interdisciplinary group of experts from NATO Member States and partner countries to build a sustained platform for research, collaboration, and training to address cultural security threats.
“Increasingly, cultural heritage is being exploited to rewrite history, erase national identity, finance conflict, evade sanctions, reward political elites, and undermine democratic institutions” wrote Deborah Lehr, Chairman and Founder of the Antiquities Coalition, in the volume’s foreword. “It has become part of the playbook of modern conflict.”
NATO is uniquely positioned to address this emerging security challenge, as the world’s foremost security alliance. While these activities are currently having their most devastating impact in Ukraine, their implications extend across the Euro-Atlantic security environment, affecting deterrence, decision-making, resilience, and Alliance cohesion.
“Integral to the Russian attack on Ukraine is an intention to destroy the Ukrainian identity and erase its history. To accomplish this, Russia has weaponized cultural heritage to manipulate the historical narrative, misrepresenting, misappropriating, or obliterating it” said Dr. Stephen Epstein, volume co-editor. “Military success will not end this war. The larger war is for the control of history itself.”
Organized into four thematic sections that move from understanding the challenge to identifying opportunities for action, the volume examines cultural heritage and the conflict in Ukraine; NATO’s role, responsibilities, and gaps; recommendations for action; and illustrative case studies.
The initiative launched in November 2025 with a workshop in Italy. While the volume grew out of these discussions, it is far more than a record of them. Executive Director of the Raphael Lemkin Society, and volume co-editor Anastasiia Oleksii reflects on their enduring relevance:
“It’s been almost a year since the discussions on how we can protect cultural heritage during armed conflict took place within an advanced research workshop. The pattern of attack has significantly shifted a year later, and it has become more obvious that Russia targets Ukrainian cultural heritage sites. This publication is another opportunity to consider cultural heritage as a strategic element of global security and continuity.”
While NATO is central to the initiative and publication, the findings inform a much broader audience. By integrating cultural property protection into existing work on hybrid warfare, strategic communications, economic security, illicit finance, civil-military cooperation, and resilience, NATO and its partners can strengthen their ability to recognize and respond to a form of aggression that extends beyond the traditional battlefield.
The editors would like to thank NATO and the participating governments for their support of this issue, and remain committed to serving as a resource.