Scientific and cultural policy in the Soviet state in the late 1910s and 1920s was conducted without taking into consideration historical and cultural value of museums' objects, which were easily transferred to other countries (Ukraine, Poland, Georgia) to the detriment of the interests of Russian science proper. Considerable damage to the research of the history and culture of the medieval Caucasus and Byzantium was caused by the activities of the commission, which authorized the transfer of a significant volume of museum exhibits, library storage units to Georgia in 1922-1923. Attempts of the leading members of the Russian Academy of Sciences S.F. Oldenburg and N.Ya. Marr to prevent the transfer of manuscripts and other items of Georgian origin were not understood and were not successful. The article publishes documents from the State Archive of the Russian Federation and Saint-Petersburg Branch of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences that reconstruct the history of activity of this commission and show the disastrous character of the State policy in the field of science and culture without taking into account the opinion of the scientific community.