Hermitage Cancels Excavations in Crimea. Two More Expeditions Plan to Halt Work, Novaya Yevropa Learns

Excavation cancellations. The management of the Hermitage Museum has decided to temporarily suspend all expeditions in Crimea, historian and archaeologist Alexander Butyagin, who heads the expedition in Kerch, told Rotonda. The organizers announced that they will move the work to another region "due to the escalation of the situation," Rotonda notes. Instead of Crimea, volunteers are invited to excavations in PriKubanye. Getting there will be easier, the group noted. Not only the Hermitage. According to Novaya Yevropa, at least two Russian scientific expeditions in the Leninsky district plan to cancel excavations in Crimea due to the "unstable situation." The problems with electricity and gasoline on the annexed peninsula are likely the reason for all cancellations. What expeditions. The Myrmecian archaeological expedition, led by Alexander Butyagin, has been working in Kerch since 1999. It continued to conduct excavations even after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Because of this, the Ukrainian authorities initiated criminal cases against Russian archaeologists working in Crimea. Butyagin himself was among them. Prosecution of Butyagin. In December last year, Butyagin was detained in Poland at the request of Ukraine; he was in a pre-trial detention center for more than five months. At the end of April, he was returned to Russia as part of a large-scale exchange between Poland, Russia, Belarus, and other countries. He continued to work at the Hermitage and also stated that he would return to Crimea to conduct excavations.