Archaeologist from Russia may be imprisoned for 10 years for excavations in Crimea

Russian archaeologist Alexander Butyagin was detained in Poland on suspicion of illegal excavations in annexed Crimea. According to Ukrainian law enforcement, he caused damage to the cultural heritage site of Ukraine.

This was reported by Krym.Realii.

The archaeologist was detained on December 4 by the Internal Security Agency during his stay in Warsaw, where he came as part of a European tour. The Ukrainian side will send an official request for his extradition, the decision on extradition will be made by the Polish court. Butyagin could face up to ten years in prison for violating the law. He is an employee of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and heads the Myrmecia Archaeological Expedition.

According to the investigation, after the annexation of Crimea, the archaeologist, without permission from the competent authorities, conducted excavations on the territory of the "Ancient City of Myrmecia" in Kerch. The expedition he led destroyed the cultural layer to a depth of almost two meters, causing more than 200 million hryvnias in damage.

Butyagin graduated from the Department of Archeology at St. Petersburg University and has been working at the Hermitage since 1993. He specializes in ancient archaeology, has conducted excavations in Crimea and Western Europe, and is the author of more than 120 scientific papers. He also actively promotes the history of the ancient world through lectures and exhibitions.

In Poland, he was to give a lecture on Pompeii, announced in early December. Diplomats of the Russian Federation declared the detention "legal absurdity".

Myrmecium, where the excavations were carried out, was founded by the Ionian Greeks in the sixth century BC and is a cultural heritage site of national importance in Ukraine. After the annexation of Crimea, Russia recognized it as a "cultural heritage site of federal significance."

The Security Service of Ukraine also put Russian archaeologist Vladimir Tolstikov, head of the Department of Art and Archaeology of the Ancient World at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, on the wanted list for illegal archaeological excavations in the temporarily occupied territories.

The accusation is related to Tolstikov 's longstanding activities in Crimea: since 1977, he has been heading the museum's Bosporus archaeological expedition in Kerch and has been taking care of the monuments of the ancient Greek city of Pantikapaedia, located on the territory of modern Kerch. Ukrainian authorities consider such activities to be illegal exploitation of national cultural heritage in the occupied territory.

Анна Бальчінос