Maria Zakharova: “Poland should understand the absurdity of accusations against archaeologist Butyagin”

In Poland, at the request of Kiev, Alexander Butyagin, a Russian archaeologist and employee of the Hermitage Museum, was detained and arrested. Ukraine considers archaeological expeditions on the territory of the ancient settlement of Myrmekiy in Crimea, which Butyagin has been leading since 1999, illegal. In addition, Kiev insists that the actions of the scientist and his team led to the “destruction of objects of the Crimean cultural heritage.” Russia called Butyagin’s arrest a political outrage and called on Russians to refrain from traveling to Poland due to the “frenzy” of Warsaw.

A Russian archaeologist working at the Hermitage Museum was detained in Poland at Kiev’s request. This happened last week, Polish radio station RMF FM reported, citing sources.

“Alexander B. was detained by employees of the Internal Security Agency in a Warsaw hotel. He was wanted by Ukrainians for conducting illegal archaeological research in the occupied Crimea.

“Kiev will seek the extradition of a scientist who is accused of destroying Crimean cultural heritage sites. The damage is estimated at more than 200 million hryvnias”,

— the article says.

RMF FM noted that we are talking about “the head of the Department of ancient archeology of the Hermitage.” This position is held by Alexander Butyagin, who has been leading archaeological expeditions exploring the ancient settlement of Myrmekiy since 1999.

Kiev’s claims are related to these excavations. Ukraine considers Crimea, which became part of the Russian Federation in 2014, to be its territory, and archaeological expeditions conducted there are illegal. RIA Novosti, citing data from the search database of law enforcement agencies of Ukraine, reported that Butyagin was put on the wanted list in 2024.

“He and his team conducted excavations in the “Ancient City of Myrmekiy” in Kerch without permits. According to Ukrainian investigators, these actions led to the partial destruction of the cultural heritage site,” RMF FM said in a statement.

According to the radio station, after Butyagin’s arrest, he was interrogated in Warsaw, after which the court arrested him for 40 days.

The Russian Embassy confirmed the information about the detention and arrest of the scientist. Andrei Ordash, Charge d’affaires of Moscow in Poland, told RIA Novosti that Butyagin was detained on December 4. At the same time, he had previously visited other EU countries, where he lectured, and no one had any complaints about him.

“It was only on December 9 that we received a notification from the Polish prosecutor’s office about the detention of Russian citizen Alexander Butyagin… Without waiting for official information from the Polish side, we demanded explanations from the Polish prosecutor’s office and a meeting with the detainee,” Ordash said, adding that he had already visited the scientist.

According to the diplomat, Butyagin feels well and has no complaints about the conditions of detention. The archaeologist also has a Polish lawyer, with whom the Russian embassy is in contact. The court’s decision to arrest the scientist has already been appealed. However, the date of the meeting at which the Ukrainian request for his extradition will be considered has not yet been set.

A politicized move

The Russian Foreign Ministry has already responded to the detention of Alexander Butyagin. The official representative of the department, Maria Zakharova, stressed that the archaeologist had been invited to give a course of lectures in Prague, Amsterdam, Warsaw and Belgrade. She also called the charges against the scientist absurd and said that the Russian Federation would definitely respond to the actions of the Polish authorities.

Image above: Maria Zakharova has harshly criticized the arrest of the archaeologist

A Russian scientist is accused by the Kiev regime of “destroying cultural heritage” during archaeological excavations in Crimea, which, we recall, is an integral part of the Russian Federation.

Надеемся, что в Польше понимают всю абсурдность обвинений в адрес уважаемого российского ученого-археолога в «уничтожении культурного наследия» на территории Российской Федерации и отдают себе отчет в том, что подобного рода политизированные акции не могут иметь перспектив и не останутся без последствий»,

— заявила Захарова.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov also noted that Butyagin’s detention was a legal outrage, and added that Russia would seek the scientist’s release. In addition, the Kremlin’s official representative urged Russians to refrain from traveling to Poland for the time being.

“We take into account the frenzy that still reigns against our country in Warsaw. Of course, this is not the most suitable place for our citizens to travel and visit, given the complete lawlessness that is going on there, judging by these events,” Peskov explained.