Poland arrests a well-known Russian archaeologist. The Kremlin reacts sharply.
12/12/2025, 07:4412/12/2025, 07:44
Peter Riesbeck / t-online
After the arrest of a Russian scientist in Poland has Moscow the NATO country was warned sharply. “The crime will not go unpunished,” said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian head of state Vladimir Putin. Peskov continued to speak of an “absolute legal tyranny.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.Image: keystone
The Polish authorities had already arrested a Russian archaeologist last week. The basis was a Ukrainian arrest warrant. Accordingly, it is the head of the archeology department of the famous St. Petersburg Hermitage Museum, Alexander Butjagin. The Ukraine accuses him of illegal excavations in the occupied areas of the country.
Manhunt for excavations in Crimea
Butjagin is therefore accused of “between 2014 and 2019 in the current year Russia “Occupied Territories of Ukraine” to have led illegal excavations. A Polish court is to decide on his extradition to Ukraine. According to Ukrainian sources, he faces up to ten years in prison for the “destruction of cultural heritage sites” on the Crimean Peninsula. Butyagin is said to have caused damage worth an estimated 200 million hryvnia (around 3.8 million francs).
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed Butyagin’s arrest and criticized the Polish authorities’ actions as politically motivated. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov advised Russian citizens not to travel to the country in view of what he described as “total legal freedom” in Poland.
Poland is one of Ukraine’s most important supporters in defending itself against the Russian war of aggression. The EU country is an important hub for humanitarian and military aid to neighboring Ukraine.
Just last month, the government in Warsaw accused Russia of being the mastermind of an attack on a Polish railway line through which an important supply line for Ukraine runs. In addition, drones repeatedly violated Polish airspace in the fall. In several cases, interceptors also rose NATO on.