ST. PETERSBURG, May 4. /TASS/. The situation regarding archaeologist Alexander Butyagin, who was detained in Poland and could have been extradited to Ukraine, is part of a broader political campaign, said Director of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky.

"We understand that 'Operation Butyagin' is part of a broader political campaign, which has manifested itself, in particular, in the imposition of sanctions against prominent Russian scholars and the heads of Russia’s leading archaeological institutions," Piotrovsky noted, according to a statement released by the Hermitage’s press office.

He also stressed that archaeologists and museum staff are becoming targets of a system of kidnappings, hostage-taking, manipulation, blackmail, and lies that has replaced standard legal procedures.