Ukraine has requested the extradition from Poland of an archaeologist who was detained in Warsaw earlier this month on suspicion of conducting unlawful excavations in Russian-occupied Crimea, based on the Polish media.
The Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Workplace acquired the extradition request from Kyiv authorities for Oleksandr Butyagin, following his apprehension in Poland on December 4.
Butyagin, 52, is an worker of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the place he leads the archaeology division specializing within the Northern Black Sea area, which encompasses Crimea. Polish authorities arrested Butyagin in Warsaw whereas on a lecture tour throughout Europe, with a deliberate remaining vacation spot in Belgrade. A Polish court docket positioned him in custody till January 13 whereas the extradition course of unfolds.
In November, the Ukrainian Prosecutor Normal’s Workplace charged Butyagin with unlawful excavations of the traditional metropolis of Myrmekion within the Kerch district of Crimea from 2014 to 2019 with out permits from Ukrainian authorities, allegedly leading to vital harm to the positioning. The Ukrainian safety service SBU mentioned in a press release that Butyagin’s archaeological staff was eradicating “the so-called cultural layer of the Ukrainian peninsula to a depth of just about two metres,” per Euro Information. Ukrainian authorities estimated repairs will price greater than 200 million hryvnia (roughly $4.75 million).
If the Polish court docket approves Butyagin’s extradition to Ukraine and he’s convicted, he faces a sentence of 1 to 10 years in jail.
Russian authorities spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred to as Butyagin’s detention “authorized arbitrariness,” whereas his colleagues from the Russian Academy of Sciences have decried the detention as “absurd in its motivations.” The State Hermitage Museum mentioned in a press release that Butyagin obeyed worldwide requirements throughout the expeditions.
Butyagin has overseen excavations of Myrmekion, an historic Greek colony established within the early sixth century BCE, since 1999, based on statements he made to Russian state media in 2024. Situated close to present-day Kerch in Crimea, Myrmekion is one amongst many heritage websites ensnared within the ongoing authorized and moral controversy over Russia’s 2014 annexation and subsequent invasion of Ukraine.
In Could, the European Union sanctioned a Russian museum for the primary time over its actions in Crimea. The “Tauric Chersonese” State Museum-Protect on the outskirts of Sevastopol, Crimea, and its director, Elena Morozova, have been sanctioned for “undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine.”
The historic sanction adopted a requirement from a bunch of artwork specialists, who referred to as on the Worldwide Council of Museums (ICOM), a nongovernmental group that units business requirements for taking part museums, to eject Russia for violating the group’s code of ethics.
Final 12 months, Ukraine accused Russia of remodeling the Tauric Chersonese, a UNESCO World Heritage Website since 2013, right into a “historic and archaeological park” and referred to as on the United Nations to intervene. The location is an historic metropolis based by Greeks within the fifth century BCE on the northern shores of the Black Sea. Ukraine and its allies don’t acknowledge Russian sovereignty over Crimea, a significant entryway into the Jap Mediterranean, and have campaigned for its restoration since its annexation.
In November, the Allard Pierson Museum, a historic museum in Amsterdam, incited minor controversy when it returned 400 artifacts, together with prized Sythian gold, to a Kyiv museum. The gathering was loaned to Amsterdam from 4 museums in Crimea earlier than the annexation, and after the incident, each Ukraine and Crimea demanded the artifacts’ return.
“This was a particular case, by which cultural heritage turned a sufferer of geopolitical developments,” Els van der Plas, director of the Amsterdam museum, mentioned in a press release.
