Polish authorities have ended a Russian archaeologist's European lecture tour with a stop in jail. Authorities in Warsaw say they detained a senior scholar from St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum after Ukraine accused him of illegally digging at an ancient Greek site in Russian-occupied Crimea. Ukrainian prosecutors say the man is Alexander Butyagin, head of the Hermitage's Ancient Archaeology of the Northern Black Sea region, the BBC reports.
According to the Ukrainian extradition request, Butyagin carried out unauthorized excavations at the ancient city of Myrmekion in Kerch from early 2014, when Russia seized Crimea, through at least 2019. Prosecutors allege he damaged the archaeological complex while searching for movable artifacts without proper permits, putting the loss at around $4.8 million. Detained in Poland on Dec. 4, he was questioned in Warsaw but declined to answer investigators' questions, prosecutors said. A Warsaw court has ordered Butyagin held at the Warsaw-Bialoleka detention center for 40 days, until Jan. 13, as Ukraine's extradition bid moves forward.
Russian authorities condemned the arrest, the New York Times reports. "We hope that Poland understands the absurdity of accusing a respected Russian archaeologist of 'destroying cultural heritage' on Russian territory and understands that such politicized actions cannot succeed and will not go unpunished," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called his detention "absolute legal tyranny" and said Russians should avoid traveling to Poland.
Butyagin delivered lectures on "The Last Day of Pompeii" in cities including Prague and Amsterdam before his stop in Warsaw. Last year, Ukrainian prosecutors said Russian occupiers are not only damaging ancient sites, they are carrying out "illegal restorations of such sites in order to distort the history of Crimea and demonstrate its 'Russian' component," per the Times.
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