Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a diplomatic tug of war over the gold ever since, while the Netherlands agonized about who to return it to - the museums who lent them, or the country that owns them.

Mieke Dudok van Heel, the presiding judge, ruled on Wednesday that only sovereign countries could claim objects as cultural heritage.

"Ownership questions have to be settled when they have been returned to the state and in accordance with the law of the state in question," he said, saying the dispute should be taken up in a Kiev court.