By Abida Kahlun
Bureau Chief Helsinki
Scandinavian News Agency
A well-known Russian archaeologist has been detained in Poland after a request from Ukraine.
Investigators say that after Russia took control of Crimea, Aleksandr Butyagin led an archaeological team from the Hermitage Museum.
He carried out excavations at a protected site called “Ancient City of Myrmekion” in Kerch but he did this without any permits from Ukrainian authorities.
Butyagin was not traveling to Ukraine or Russia. He was only passing through Poland after visiting the Netherlands, where he had given several lectures.
Polish officials questioned him, and the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office decided he should be kept in temporary custody.
Instead of staying in a European hotel during his travels, Butyagin will now spend at least 40 days in a Polish jail while the legal process continues.
Read related international crime stories here.
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