A Polish court has ordered the extradition of Russian archaeologist Butyagin to Ukraine
This was reported by the ‘Lawyer for Oleksandr Butyagin’ initiative.
The decision does not mean immediate extradition — the archaeologist’s defence team plans to lodge an appeal. The lawyers argue that the prosecution has no evidence, the statute of limitations in the case has expired, and he faces human rights violations in Ukraine.
As a reminder, Alexander Butyagin, an employee of the Hermitage, was detained in Warsaw on 4 December 2025 at the request of the Ukrainian prosecution service. In Ukraine, he is suspected of conducting illegal excavations at the Mirmekii settlement site in occupied Crimea and of destroying the cultural layer of an archaeological site, causing damage amounting to over 200 million hryvnias.
Ukraine requested his extradition, and in January the Polish prosecutor’s office agreed to this request.
