March 18, 2026

Warsaw court approves Ukraine's request to extradite archaeologist Alexander Butyagin

Warsaw District Court Judge Dariusz Lubomirski approved Ukraine's request to extradite Russian archaeologist Alexander Butyagin. "Novaya-Europe" correspondent reported from the courthouse. Lawyer Adam Domański told "Novaya-Europe" that the Ukrainian side did not provide evidence confirming the scale of damage that, according to their version, Alexander Butyagin caused during excavations in occupied Crimea. Domański believes that extradition deprives Butyagin of the right to a fair trial and threatens his life and health. He noted that the court's decision will be translated into Russian and given to Butyagin in the coming days. After that, the defense will have seven days to file an appeal. Until then, the Russian will not be extradited to Ukraine. When asked what decision he expected from the court, Domański did not answer. However, he stressed that he had previously requested the recusal of judge Dariusz Lubomirski, including on the grounds of his previous decisions regarding a Ukrainian citizen. Earlier, Lubomirski refused to extradite Ukrainian Vladimir Zhuravlev to Germany, who is suspected of sabotaging the "Nord Stream" gas pipelines in 2022. Butyagin was detained in early December in Poland at Ukraine's request. He was later arrested. Ukrainian authorities claim that Butyagin carried out work in Crimea without the permission of the peninsula's legal authorities, and during the excavations themselves, "partial destruction of a cultural heritage site occurred." The damage from the work is estimated at 200 million hryvnias (approximately 370 million rubles). Alexander Butyagin is a Russian archaeologist and antique scholar, science popularizer, head of the Northern Black Sea Archaeology sector of the Department of the Ancient World at the State Hermitage Museum. He and his group were excavating in annexed Crimea at the site of the "Ancient City of Myrmekion."