---
title: "Alexander Butyagin"
chunk: 2/3
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Butyagin"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T10:43:26.770185+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

=== Arrest in Poland ===
In 2024, Ukrainian prosecutors reported that Butyagin had been notified in absentia of suspicion of unlawful excavations, damage to a cultural heritage site, and causing damage estimated at more than 200 million hryvnias, under Part 4 of Article 298 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine ("illegal search work at an archaeological heritage site; destruction, ruin or damage to cultural heritage objects"). The accusations were based on the international cultural heritage law that prohibits any archaeological excavations on occupied territories unless explicitly authorized and permitted by the internationally recognized authorities.
According to the Kharkiv Human Rights Group, Russia had violated said law by excavating, 'renovating', and causing other irreparable damage to places of Crimean Tatar or Ukrainian cultural heritage in Crimea, such as Bakhchysarai Palace or the Ancient City of Tauric Chersonese and its Chora. In March 2025, Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) stated that "hundreds of archaeological artifacts discovered during excavations" had been removed from Crimea, including from the ancient city of Panticapaeum, where Butyagin also carried out archaeological work.
Meanwhile, Vadim Mayko, director of the Institute of Archaeology of Crimea (Russian Academy of Sciences), said in an interview with a Russian outlet that all objects found by Butyagin, both before and after 2014, were transferred for storage to Crimean museums, and that items taken to Saint Petersburg or Moscow were transported only for necessary restoration and always returned thereafter.The claim that the finds were not removed from Crimea for permanent storage was also mentioned in Meduza's reporting on Butyagin's arrest, citing historian and journalist Arseny Vesnin.
On 4 December 2025, Butyagin was detained in Warsaw at Ukraine's request. He had entered Poland without obstruction shortly before and was expected to give a public lecture there. After questioning, a court ordered his detention for 40 days. According to information cited from Butyagin's colleagues, Ukrainian authorities opened criminal cases against all archaeologists who worked in Crimea after Russia's annexation of the peninsula.
In response, the Hermitage issued a statement asserting that finds made during the excavations were not removed from Crimea and were recorded on the balance sheet of the East Crimean Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve (this institution brings together a number of museums and archaeological sites in Kerch, including the archaeological site of the Myrmekion settlement) After his detention, a number of Russian opposition figures voiced support for Butyagin, including the historian and journalist Arseny Vesnin and the former Russian media manager Demyan Kudryavtsev.
Against the backdrop of Butyagin's arrest, Russia's Ministry of Education and Science recommended that universities and research institutes coordinate all foreign business trips to unfriendly countries in advance.
In March 2026, Butyagin was ordered by the Warsaw District Court to be extradited to Ukraine to stand trial. On April 28, Butyagin was released as part of a prisoner exchange between Poland and Belarus.

== Bibliography ==

=== Books ===
Aleksinsky, D. P. (2005). Всадники войны. Кавалерия Европы [Riders of War: The Cavalry of Europe] (in Russian). Klim A. Zhukov; Alexander M. Butyagin; D. S. Korovkin. Moscow; Saint Petersburg: Полигон; АСТ. p. 488. ISBN 5-17-027891-8.
Butyagin, A. M. (2015). На земле грифона [On the Land of the Griffin] (in Russian). O. Yu. Sokolova; S. L. Solovyov. Saint Petersburg: Изд-во Гос. Эрмитажа. p. 38. ISBN 978-5-93572-626-3.
Butyagin, A. M. (2019). Помпеи, Геркуланум, Оплонтис, Стабии: краткий очерк истории и археологии [Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis, Stabiae: a short overview of history and archaeology] (in Russian). Saint Petersburg: Изд-во Гос. Эрмитажа. p. 91. ISBN 978-5-93572-851-9.
«Посмотри в глаза чудовищ»: мифические олицетворения ужаса в Античности и их победители: каталог выставки (Санкт-Петербург, Государственный Эрмитаж) (in Russian). Saint Petersburg: Изд-во Гос. Эрмитажа. 2024. p. 403. ISBN 978-5-907653-77-1.