Poland Hands Over Detained Archaeologist Butyagin To Russia

As part of an exchange at the Belarusian border.

The head of the Polish Foreign Ministry Radoslaw Sikorski reported that Russian archaeologist Alexander Butyagin, arrested at the request of Ukraine, was handed over to Moscow as part of the exchange on the Belarusian border.

The identities of the others handed over to the Lukashenko regime and Russia are not disclosed. It is reported that they are citizens of Belarus, the Russian Federation and other CIS countries.

Poland managed to release the journalist, leader of the Polish diaspora in Belarus Andrzej Poczobut and four other Polish citizens.

It should be noted that Poland detained Alexander Butyagin in December 2025 at the request of Ukraine. On April 1, 2026, a court in Warsaw ruled that the archaeologist could be extradited. Butyagin, head of an expedition of the State Hermitage Museum, conducted excavations in annexed Crimea without the consent of the Ukrainian authorities.

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