Russia summons Polish ambassador over detained archaeologist
Russia summoned Poland’s ambassador on Tuesday to demand the immediate release of a Russian archaeologist detained in Poland, warning against his extradition to Ukraine.
Alexander Butyagin, an archaeologist with St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum, was arrested last month at Ukraine’s request. Kyiv accuses him of conducting unauthorized excavations and looting historical artifacts in Crimea, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called the charges “absurd,” saying Butyagin has worked in Crimea for decades and that all his finds were transferred to a local museum. “The Russian Federation demands the immediate release of its citizen and that he not be handed over to the Kyiv regime’s punitive machine, which has no resemblance to justice,” the ministry said.
Ukraine has said it is defending both its people and its cultural heritage amid the ongoing war, accusing Russia of taking valuable historical items from Crimea—which Moscow annexed in 2014—and other occupied regions since the 2022 invasion.
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