The Russian Hermitage has canceled all expeditions to occupied Crimea — in the spring, archaeologist Alexander Butyagin, against whom Ukraine is pursuing a case, announced the next excavations there.
Butyagin himself informed the Russian media about this decision.
A few days ago, the Myrmekion expedition group, which Butyagin has led since 1999, announced that the work would be transferred to another region "due to the aggravation of the situation". Instead of Crimea, the Russians plan to conduct excavations in the Kuban region.
What is happening in Crimea?
The Hermitage made this decision against the backdrop of a series of attacks on the territory of Crimea that Ukraine has recently carried out. Bridges were hit (in particular, the Chonhar Bridge and the railway bridge across the North Crimean Canal were destroyed), the main electrical substation of Sevastopol, the oil depot in Kerch, a number of air defense systems of the occupiers near the Crimean Bridge, and other objects.
Because of this, the occupying authorities of Crimea have introduced a number of restrictions. In particular, starting June 21, they completely banned the sale of fuel to civilians on the peninsula, introduced power outage schedules, and closed all childrenʼs camps by the end of the summer "for security reasons".
And on June 26, a state of emergency was introduced in Crimea and Sevastopol.
Who is Butyagin and why is Ukraine pursuing a case against him?
Hermitage employee Oleksandr Butyagin was detained in Warsaw on December 4, 2025, at the request of the Ukrainian prosecutorʼs office. In Ukraine, he is suspected of conducting illegal excavations on the territory of the Myrmekion settlement in occupied Crimea and destroying the cultural layer of an archaeological site worth over UAH 200 million.
Ukraine demanded his extradition, and in January the Polish prosecutorʼs office agreed to this request. In March, a Polish court agreed to extradite Butyagin.
However, on April 28, it became known that Poland had released Butyagin and exchanged him for a Belarusian political prisoner as part of a larger five-for-five exchange.
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