A Polish court has ruled to extradite Alexander Butyagin, a Russian antiquities scholar, to Ukraine on charges of damaging cultural heritage in Crimea. Butyagin, 52, was detained in Poland in December while traveling to lecture about ancient Pompeii. The scholar, who works at St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum, faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

Ukraine accuses Butyagin of illegally excavating the ancient Greek colony Myrmekion in Crimea after Russia's 2014 annexation. Kyiv considers the excavations unlawful since they occurred without Ukrainian government approval. The charges were issued by Ukrainian intelligence in 2024, targeting Russian nationals operating in the occupied territory. Butyagin has denied the allegations, calling the case a waste of time.

Russian officials have condemned the extradition ruling as politically motivated. Maria V. Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, called it a trial with no legal grounds and vowed to bring Butyagin home. The case highlights ongoing cultural heritage disputes between Ukraine and Russia since Crimea's annexation, including a separate case involving Scythian gold artifacts that took Kyiv nine years to recover from the Netherlands.