ST. PETERSBURG, May 4. /TASS/. Director General of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky believes that Alexander Butyagin, a Russian archaeologist who was released from detention in Warsaw last month, was exposed to an operation of European special services by his fringe critics.
"The State Hermitage refuses to thank those sideline haters of our comrade who had lured him into an attractive tour and exposed him to an operation of European special services," Piotrovsky wrote in a statement on the situation around Butyagin released by the St. Petersburg-based museum.
Piotrovsky also expressed surprise at "the absolute lack of nobleness in the actions of Polish law enforcement agencies" as he also noted that European culture centers had chosen to ignore requests to protect the rights of Butyagin as an individual and a scholar submitted to them by Russian community organizations and the Hermitage.
Archaeology and protection of culture sites have become part of wars of memory in which research principles are used against science, the Hermitage director lamented. "Archaeologists and museum staff become targeted in a system of kidnapping, fraud, blackmail, and lies that have substituted normal judicial procedures. <…> Nowadays, they [archaeologists] have no immunity amidst highwaymen," he added.
"An awful precedent and a temptation to use force in solving disputes related to the study of cultural monuments have been created," Piotrovsky concluded.
Butyagin case
On December 4, Polish security services detained Butyagin while he was traveling from the Netherlands to the Balkans for a lecture tour. A Warsaw court ordered his arrest, extending his detention until June 1. The Polish prosecutor’s office received an extradition request from Ukraine, claiming he could face up to ten years in prison. The Warsaw court ruled for his extradition, which his defense planned to appeal.
Butyagin was released as part of a swap at the Belarusian-Polish border. The archaeologist’s return to his homeland was part of a multi-stage operation that was conducted in cooperation with Belarusian special service.