A court in Warsaw, Poland, has approved the extradition of a Russian archeologist to Ukraine for damages done during unpermitted excavations in Crimea, Novaya Gazeta Europe reported on Wednesday.
Alexander Butyagin, an archeologist who works for the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg arrested in Warsaw in December, has been approved for extradition to Ukraine by a court in Poland in line with an indictment issued by the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office in November 2024 for illegal excavation works in Russian-occupied Crimea.
The Ukrainian authorities allege that the excavations, conducted in the Crimean city of Kerch at the site of the ancient Greek city of Myrmekion, caused over 200 million hryvnia (€4 million) in damage, and were organised without the permission of the relevant authorities. At the time of the indictment’s issuance, Butyagin responded, speaking to Russian media from Crimea in 2024, he said he had overseen work at that site since the late 1990s.
Butyagin’s lawyer, Adam Domansky, speaking to Novaya Gazeta Europe, said that the Ukrainian side had failed to provide proof of the damage done by the archeologist during the excavations, adding that he believed that an extradition to Ukraine would deprive Butyagin of his right to a fair trial and threaten his life and wellbeing.
The archeologist’s defence are awaiting an official translation of the verdict to deliver to him, following which they will have seven days to appeal the court’s decision. If the extradition goes ahead and Butyagin is convicted in Ukraine, he could face up to 10 years in prison.
Butyagin’s arrest in December was met with outrage from the Russian Foreign Ministry, and in February, the Russian Science and Higher Education Ministry warned universities and research institutions about trips to “unfriendly countries” in light of Butyagin’s arrest, and many such institutions have frozen planned trips for the spring.
