Poland Hands Over Archaeologist Butyagin to Russia in Exchange

As part of a 5-for-5 detainee exchange, Poland handed over historian Alexander Butyagin to Russia. He had been detained in December last year at Ukraine’s request. He and the wife of a Russian serviceman stationed in Transnistria were exchanged for two Moldovan citizens.

“Russian citizens were exchanged for two career officers of a Moldovan special service, who had previously posed as Moldovan citizens recruited by an officer of the Foreign Intelligence Directorate of the Information and Security Service of the Republic of Moldova,” Russia’s FSB said.

The FSB claims that the detained Moldovan citizens arrived in Russia in 2025 allegedly to carry out intelligence activities.

It is recalled that the exchange took place on April 28 at the Pererov–Belovezha checkpoint on the Belarusian-Polish border. Belarus handed over five individuals to Poland who had been convicted in Belarus and Russia on espionage charges. Among those released was Belarusian political prisoner and journalist Andrzej Poczobut.

Russian archaeologist Butyagin had been detained in Poland at Ukraine’s request. He was involved in excavations in Crimea. After Russia’s annexation of the peninsula in 2014, he continued excavations without the permission of the Ukrainian authorities. Ukraine accuses him of illegal excavations and the theft of historical artefacts.