Orenburg Inter-Municipal Department of the Interior Ministry has opened a criminal case following the demolition of a historical and cultural monument in the center of Russian Orenburg with a purpose to build a parking place for a bank.

The case was opened under Article 243 of the Russian Criminal Code – destruction or damage of cultural heritage sites, the press service of the inter-municipal department said on Thursday.

"As part of the investigation we have to establish all the circumstances of the events that took place. According to local media, Shevchenko's house was demolished back in June last year and the parking place was built on its site. We have to find out whether it was in fact an illegal demolition of the cultural monument," the source said.

As reported earlier, Ukraine's Culture and Foreign Ministries stated on an intent to appeal to the international organizations over the destruction of the architectural monument, the house where prominent Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko lived in exile.

Ukraine's Culture Minister Vyacheslav Kyrylenko said at a Cabinet's meeting on Wednesday that Shevchenko lived in the ruined house while in exile that a Russian tsar sentenced him to.

"Despite the house in Orenburg is the architectural monument of the national importance and has an appropriate protected registration number, it was completely destroyed and an infrastructure facility was built on its site, namely parking place for the private bank. This is a violation of not only the Russian domestic law, but of all international norms," Kyrylenko stressed.