MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Tuesday it had summoned the Polish ambassador to protest the detention of a Russian archaeologist and demand his immediate release rather than his extradition to Ukraine.
Poland last month arrested archaeologist Alexander Butyakin at the request of Ukraine, which accused him of conducting unauthorized excavations and looting historical artifacts in Crimea.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it had summoned Polish Ambassador Krzysztof Krajewski on Monday and told him Ukraine’s accusations were “ridiculous.”
Butyakin, an employee of the famous Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, has worked in Crimea for decades and all of his finds have been transferred to the museum there, the statement said.
“It needs to be emphasized that the Russian Federation’s demand for the immediate release of this Russian citizen and his non-handover to the punishment apparatus of the Kiev regime bears no resemblance to justice,” the statement said.
Ukraine says it is defending not only its people and territory but also its cultural heritage in its war with Russia.
It accuses Russia of taking precious historical objects from Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and from other parts of the country after Russia invaded the neighboring country in February 2022.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Mark Trevelyan and Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)