The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed a sharp protest to Poland after the detention of Russian archaeologist Alexander Butagin in Warsaw in December. Moscow demands his immediate release and rejects accusations of damage to Ukrainian cultural heritage.
On Monday, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Polish ambassador Krzysztof Krajewski to interpret the protest against the December arrest of the Russian scientist Alexander Butagin in Warsaw. Ukraine suspects Buthagin that he destroyed part of Ukrainian cultural heritage during archaeological excavations in the territories occupied by Moscow. It was reported by the Reuters agency, writes TASR.
The Russian ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that it had expressed a strong protest to Warsaw through the Polish ambassador against the detention of the Russian archaeologist at the request of Ukraine. According to the department, Moscow considers the accusations against him to be absurd and demands his immediate release. At the same time, she asked Poland not to extradite Buthagin to Ukraine.
Protest against detention
“The openly politicized and speculative nature of the persecution of the Russian scientist by Ukraine is demonstrated by the fact that the Ukrainian arrest warrant was not executed through Interpol, as Butyagin freely visited several European states before his detention in Warsaw,” the statement reads.
Buthagin was detained in Warsaw at the beginning of December last year, the court subsequently ordered his detention until January 13, and on Monday extended his detention until March 4. The measure against the Russian archaeologist in Poland is related to the investigation conducted against him by Ukrainian authorities on suspicion of damaging cultural heritage in Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
Kyiv claims that Butagin conducted research at the Myrmekion archaeological complex in Kerch without permission between 2014 and 2019, causing damage exceeding 201 million Ukrainian hryvnias (approximately four million euros).
