“Ukraine has officially appealed to the prosecutor’s office in Warsaw with a demand to extradite Russian archaeologist Oleksandr Butyagin, who was arrested in Poland on suspicion of illegal excavations in the occupied Crimea”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
Butyagin was detained at the request of Ukraine on December 11 on suspicion of illegal excavations in the occupied Crimea. In Ukraine, Butyagin has been declared wanted since 2024. The Russian scientist gave lectures in Europe and was in Poland en route from the Netherlands. The term of the Russian’s arrest expires on January 13, 2026.
Oleksandr Butyagin is the head of the sector of ancient archeology of the Northern Black Sea region of the Ancient World department of the Hermitage. Since 1999, he has been managing the works of the Myrmekii archaeological expedition, which is investigating the ancient settlement of Myrmekii on the territory of modern Kerch.
The authorities of Ukraine call Butyagin’s illegal participation in excavations after 2014 – since the occupation of Crimea by Russia.
The archaeologist is suspected of partially destroying a cultural heritage site and causing damages in the amount of over 201.6 million hryvnias, said the spokesman of the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office, Piotr Skiba. Noukovtsev in Ukraine may face up to five years in prison. In Warsaw, Butyagin was sent under arrest for 40 days, he was already visited by Russian diplomats.
The Hermitage emphasized that Butyagin allegedly always followed “international norms of conducting archaeological research, both legal and ethical.” At the same time, according to museum employees, the management of the Hermitage has not allocated funds to help Butyagin and is trying to “hush up the matter.”