Poland Holds Russian Hermitage Archaeologist for 40 Days as Ukraine Extradition Bid Looms

Overview

• A Warsaw court ordered Alexander Butyagin into 40 days of pretrial detention pending an expected extradition request from Kyiv.
• Polish reports say he was stopped while traveling from the Netherlands to the Balkans and declined to give testimony to prosecutors.
• Russia’s embassy in Warsaw has visited him and is coordinating with his lawyer, who is appealing the temporary detention order.
• The Russian Academy of Sciences says it is drafting an appeal to the international scientific community regarding his arrest.
• The State Hermitage calls the case serious and says Butyagin followed legal and ethical excavation norms with permits from relevant authorities, including before and after 2014 in Crimea.