Russia has summoned Poland’s ambassador in protest at the detention of a top St. Petersburg archaeologist who is wanted by Ukraine over claims he led illegal digs at an ancient site in the occupied Crimea region.
Ukrainian investigators have accused Alexander B., whose surname is withheld under Polish privacy laws, of heading unauthorized excavations at the former Greek settlement of Myrmekion on the outskirts of the modern city of Kerch.
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Kyiv claims that the archeologist, an employee of the landmark Hermitage Museum, is responsible for the destruction or removal of cultural artifacts worth around €4 million—charges which could land him a 10-year prison sentence.
The Polish authorities detained Alexander B. in mid-December and a court is due to consider Ukraine’s extradition request on Thursday.
Russia has preemptively summoned Poland’s ambassador in Moscow, Krzysztof Krajewski, in protest, demanding the suspect’s release.
“The Russian Federation demands the immediate release of the Russian citizen and that he not be handed over to the Kyiv regime’s punitive machine, which has no resemblance to justice,” Russia’s foreign ministry claimed in a statement on Tuesday.
Moscow also said, without presenting any evidence, that Alexander B. obtained all necessary permits and that allegations to the contrary were “frankly politicized.”
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‘National significance’
On Monday, a Warsaw court ruled that Alexander B. will be kept in custody until March 4 as the extradition process begins.
According to Polish media reports, the suspect was detained while transiting through Warsaw en route from the Netherlands to the Balkans, where he was travelling to deliver lectures.
Located in eastern Crimea, Myrmekion is an ancient Greek colony founded in the 6th century BC, internationally recognized as a “monument of national significance of Ukraine” and a part of the country’s cultural heritage.
Alexander B., a senior academic at the St. Petersburg-based Hermitage—Russia’s largest art museum—has reportedly conducted digs at Myrmekion since 1999, well before Russia illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
The archaeologist and his supporters argue he was simply continuing his life’s work by working on the site under Russian rule. His critics argue that he has violated a Hague Convention protocol for the protection of cultural property in conflict zones.
Cultural site damage
Russia formally annexed Crimea following a military takeover and a sham referendum dismissed as illegitimate by the UN General Assembly.
Since the annexation, Moscow has been attempting to fully integrate Crimea into Russia’s cultural sphere, appropriating its cultural landmarks in the process.
About 2,000 Ukrainian cultural sites are reported to have been damaged, with thousands of precious artifacts seized and appropriated into museum collections in Russia.
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