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(CNN) — Ten gold bracelets, 17 cigar cases, a powder compact, a comb, and a whopping 598 gold coins: The items are all part of a valuable and somewhat mysterious stash, found by chance by two hikers in the northeastern Czech Republic.

The hikers, who wish to remain anonymous, were taking a shortcut through the forest in the Krkonoše Mountains — a popular hiking spot — when they saw an aluminum box sticking out of a stony wall.

After they opened it and discovered the loot, they immediately took it to the Museum of Eastern Bohemia, in the nearby town of Hradec Králové, according to Miroslav Novak, the head of the archaeological department at the museum.

“The finders came to our museum’s numismatist (coin expert) without a prior appointment. Only after that did archaeologists begin to deal with the find and set out to explore the site,” Novak told CNN in an email.

Who may have hidden the treasure and why is still up for debate, but one thing is certain: The stash can’t be more than about a century old, because one of the coins is dated 1921. As for the rest, there are only hypotheses, for now.

“It is most likely related to the turbulent period before the start of World War II, when the Czech and Jewish population was leaving the border area, or to 1945, when the Germans were leaving,” Novak said.

A complete historical appraisal of the stash is still ongoing, and two of the cigar cases are tightly shut and remain unopened, but the metal value of the gold coins alone — which weigh 3.7 kilograms, or 8.16 pounds — is 8 million Czech koruna, or about $360,000, according to the museum’s coin expert, Vojtěch Brádle.

The finding has sparked interest in the surrounding community, and Novak says the museum is getting calls with “various local rumors,” which he hopes could help solve the riddle of the gold’s origin.

Speculation is fueled by the fact that, oddly, there are no local coins in the mix. “Half are of Balkan origin and the other half of French origin,” Novak said. “Central European coins, such as German ones, are completely missing. But the find is located on the former ethnic border between the Czech and German populations.”

Among the theories submitted by the public, Novak said, is one that traces the ownership of the coins back to wealthy families from the surrounding area, such as the the Swéerts-Špork family, the owners of the Kuks estate, a large baroque complex overlooking the Elbe River that includes a summer residence, a spa and a monastery. Another suggests the cache could be war spoils of Czechoslovak legionnaires.

Findings like this are not especially common for the area, Novak noted.

“About nine kilometers southeast, a hoard of 2,700 silver denarii (a type of European trade coin) from the 12th century was found ten years ago,” he said by email. “Many residents left this area during the 20th century, which is why there are many abandoned farms here.”

Vojtěch Brádle agreed that the makeup of the stash is unusual.

“Usually, Czech finds from the 20th century mainly contain German and Czechoslovak coins. There is not a single one here,” he said. “Most of the pieces from this treasure did not travel directly to Bohemia. They must have been somewhere in the Balkan Peninsula after the First World War. Some of the coins have countermarks from the former Yugoslavia. These were only minted on coins sometime in the 1920s or 1930s. At the moment, I do not know of any other Czech find that would contain coins with these countermarks.”

More research is required, he added, to understand the metal composition of the remaining items, and obtain a more accurate overall value.

It’s significant that the most recent coin in the stash is from 1921, according to Mary Heimann, a professor of modern history and an expert of Czechoslovak history at the University of Cardiff in the United Kingdom. That was the year the Soviet-Polish War ended when the Treaty of Riga was signed, she said, but it was also a year of financial crisis in Czechoslovakia, the former state that separated peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.

“It was an unstable period, there was a downturn in the economy and widespread unemployment. For that reason, it’s not that surprising somebody would think of burying a stash of gold at that time,” she added.

Despite Novak’s suggestions the stash was likely left around 1945, Heimann thinks that if that were the case, more recent coins would probably be in the mix. The absence of local currency, however, makes things murkier.

“(The person who hid the coins) could have been a collector, or someone who worked in museums. Or someone who stole a collection from somewhere. This is borderland territory, it separates what’s today the Czech Republic — what was in the past Czechoslovakia — from Poland,” Heimann said. “The first World War didn’t end overnight, the ramifications were still being felt everywhere. There was still instability of borders, there was still economic crisis, there was quite a lot of crime. I suppose you might expect that in those border regions and in places of mixed ethnicity, there would be particularly high tension. So it might be that someone could be more frightened of the future if they lived in those areas than someone who lived elsewhere.”

Once the items have undergone further material analysis, they will be preserved and stored in the museum’s coin collection. A short exhibition is planned for the fall.

And then, who will get to keep the loot? According to Czech law, Novak said, archaeological finds are the property of the local regional administration from the moment of discovery.

“In this case, the treasure was correctly handed over to the museum,” he said. “The finder is entitled to a financial reward, which depends on the value of the metal or historical appraisal.”

Kyiv, Ukraine
CNN
 — 

“The root causes of the conflict.”

These were startling words from a man purportedly on the path to peace.

But it is the nub of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s position of what must be solved for peace, after two weeks, or three months, depending on how you count, of mounting pressure for an immediate unconditional 30-day ceasefire. Unbothered, taking this most consequential of calls at a music school on the Sochi coast, the Kremlin head has returned to the start – to his false narrative about this war of choice being sparked by NATO expanding too fast.

Five other, different words emerged hours before, that may have echoed in Putin’s ears while he spoke to US President Donald Trump for two hours.

“It is not our war,” said Vice President JD Vance earlier. Reprising his role as the harbinger of very bad news for European security, Vance held out again this remarkable non-threat: that the United States might pull out of the war – presumably from both diplomacy and aid to Ukraine – unless Russia takes steps toward a peace deal it adamantly does not want. Washington backing off is exactly what Russia yearns for, and to earn this dream outcome, it seems Putin has to do absolutely nothing, bar continue to wage a brutal war.

Moments after the call, Trump already sounded like a man stepping back from the fray. Five days earlier he had been the febrile intermediary, the peacemaker willing to bridge the enmity between Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky for a meeting in Turkey. But after his Monday call with Putin, he simply said Ukraine and Russia must talk directly, “as only they can.” He even passed the task to the home of the new American Pope, the Vatican, as a possible venue. The United States may not be out of the process entirely, but it talks like it wants someone else to lead it.

The last 10 days have been a vivid reminder of how little Putin really needs POTUS or his approval. And the logic is simple.

For the best part of three years of war, Russia’s state media has been lecturing its audience they are not only in conflict with Ukraine, but also with all of NATO, including the United States. The presidency of Trump has created a small window in which the Kremlin might talk its way into a better position, or even alleviate the pain of some Western sanctions. But it does not change the central calculation or message of the Kremlin: this is an existential war, about re-establishing their pre-eminence in their near abroad. So much pain and loss has been inflicted on the Russian people through staggering war casualties that delivering middling to poor results might significantly limit the longevity of Russia’s leadership. This isn’t a war they can be seen to have lost.

The limits of what the United States can offer Russia at the moment, in terms of leverage, are visible from space. Yes, the US could escalate sanctions, even, as Trump mulled last week, adding “secondary sanctions” against Russia’s financiers, the oil purchasers of India and China. But that would cause another trade-like rift with world powers that Washington has just made good with. The US could alternatively ease sanctions to coax Russia into concessions. But those kid gloves would irk their European allies, and likely falter without Europe’s practical support.

Any further steps to cause Moscow pain would likely mean Trump had gone further to punish Russia than his predecessor Joe Biden did. That is not the MAGA geopolitical gameplan. It would deepen US involvement in a war where there is, frankly, no end in sight, until one side falters, or sees drastic change in political leadership.

Ukraine in 2025 is a bleak prospect. But the central tenet of European policy was the best choice in a world of ghastly options: Moscow could only be forced into reducing its goals if it saw an infinitely united NATO before it. Its economy, reserve wealth, manpower, or hardware might falter – only one needs to for the war machine to stutter. It is bleak, but Europe is left with little choice. Ukraine has no choice at all.

Trump felt he has a choice. His business acumen sees no merit in a long-term investment in a conflict with an enemy you’d prefer to get along with, the best outcome from which is to return Europe to the peace it knew before. There is no deal to be made here. Putin is not buying anything; he seeks to conquer and take. Trump has nothing to sell, bar the United States’ backing for its traditional allies. There is no way Putin and Trump can both win and retain their stature.

American leadership has for decades been built around something other than good, small deals. Its benevolence toward allies, vast soft power, and military hegemony, has left it the biggest economy on earth, with an undefeatable currency – itself a very good and huge deal.

But Trump sees America’s role as smaller. This may be the moment Trump finally understood Putin as someone who really doesn’t seek his approval or allegiance, and stepped back. If it is, the United States too has stepped back from decades of calling the shots, admitted the limits of its focus and power, and left the most important peace deal since the 1940s to a Hail Mary pass at the Vatican.

CNN
 — 

A sculpture of the late American singer and poet Jim Morrison that went missing from his gravesite in Paris almost four decades ago has been found, according to French police.

“After 37 years of absence, the bust of Jim Morrison, stolen in 1988 from the Père Lachaise cemetery, has been found,” wrote the Paris Regional Judicial Police Directorate in an Instagram post on Friday.

It added that “this iconic symbol for the singer’s fans was recovered” during an investigation conducted by the Financial and Anti-Corruption Brigade, under the authority of the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office.

“This was a chance discovery made during a search ordered by an examining magistrate at the Paris court,” the prosecutor’s office told CNN in a statement Tuesday.

Jeff Jampol, manager of the Jim Morrison Estate, told CNN in a statement Tuesday that they were “happy to hear” of the statue’s rediscovery, adding: “Obviously it’s a piece of history, and one Jim’s family wanted there on his grave, so it’s gratifying to see that it’s been recovered.”

“Now we’ll have to see what kind of shape the bust is in,” he continued.

Morrison, the charismatic frontman of 1960s psychedelic rock band The Doors, died in 1971, aged just 27.

His grave in the French capital attracts many music fans.

Resting in the Père Lachaise cemetery, it is one of the most popular graves in Paris, according to the city’s official tourism website, with crowds gathering there on the anniversary of his death on July 3 every year.

The bust, created by Croatian sculptor Mladen Mikulin, was installed on his tombstone on the 10th anniversary of his death, according to the official city of Paris website. However, it disappeared in 1988.

The grave’s headstone, which was damaged in the 1980s, was replaced by his parents in 1990 with the epitaph “True to His Spirit” written on it in Greek.

On the 20th anniversary of Morrison’s death in 1991, police had to disperse fans from the cemetery with tear gas due to unruly behaviour.

By the 30th anniversary, alcohol and music had been banned, but thousands still turned up to his plot to lay wreaths and take photos.

“Every day, somewhere in the world, a Doors song is played,” said former Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek at the time. “The energy of Jim Morrison is still with us, in the ether.”

Morrison, who was also known as “The Lizard King,” developed a reputation for his heavy alcohol drinking and shocking onstage antics.

Morrison left the band in 1971 to focus on writing poetry and he moved to Paris with his girlfriend, Pamela Courson.

However, he died in their Paris apartment later that year.

Courson told authorities that she had found the singer dead in the bathtub.

His cause of death is officially recorded as being heart failure but no autopsy was conducted, prompting conspiracy theories.