The Kremlin has threatened Poland over the arrest of a Russian archaeologist on a Ukrainian warrant, saying the act “will not go unpunished.”
The archaeologist, Alexander Butyagin, an employee of Russia’s State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, oversees archaeological research into an ancient Greek site on the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Kyiv still claims sovereignty over Crimea, sees any archaeological work there since 2014 as illegal, and considers any antiquities taken from the site to be stolen.
Before his arrest last week, Mr. Butyagin, who also serves as the Hermitage’s head of the Northern Black Sea Region’s Classical Archaeology Sector, had been traveling around Europe giving lectures on “The Last Day of Pompeii.” He visited Prague and Amsterdam before heading to the Polish capital, Warsaw. He had been planning to give a talk in the Serbian capital, Belgrade.
“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 Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman of the Russian foreign ministry.
Mr. Butyagin had been working on the site near present-day Kerch, known by its ancient Greek name, Myrmekion, since 1999, according to his official biography.
Last year, Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General charged Mr. Butyagin with illegally excavating Myrmekion without obtaining permits from the relevant authorities.
“These actions of the suspect actually destroy a legally protected object of national importance,” the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office for Crimea, which is operating in exile, wrote in a news release last year.
“The occupiers also carry out illegal restorations of such sites in order to distort the history of Crimea and demonstrate its ‘Russian’ component,” it alleged.
A Polish court ordered Mr. Butyagin remanded into custody for 40 days while Ukrainian authorities prepare an extradition request. If Mr. Butyagin is extradited to Ukraine and convicted, he faces up to ten years in prison.
The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also condemned Butyagin’s arrest, calling it “absolute legal tyranny.” He urged Russian citizens to avoid traveling to Poland, because they could face “complete lawlessness.”
Ms. Zakharova said that Russian diplomats had visited Mr. Butyagin, and that his lawyers planned to appeal his 40-day detention.
Historical and cultural heritage have become battlegrounds since Moscow seized Crimea, a trend that accelerated after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Kyiv has reported that Russian soldiers stole many prized artifacts from territories it occupied.
Valerie Hopkins covers the war in Ukraine and how the conflict is changing Russia, Ukraine, Europe and the United States. She is based in Moscow.
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