The father of archaeologist Butyagin, who was detained in Poland, pointed out the lack of communication with his son.

Family members of Russian archaeologist Alexander Butyagin, who was detained in Poland at the request of Ukraine, have almost no information about his condition, and the news comes in fits and starts. His father Mikhail Butyagin told Izvestia about this on March 18.

"They don't report anything. I just found out today that there were letters. <...> I've been trying for a couple of weeks to find out what he was writing. It's only today that something finally hit home," he shared.

The man clarified that the last messages were addressed to the archaeologist's common—law wife, Nadezhda, an employee of the archaeological museum, with whom he has known for more than ten years. The researcher's sister also received data on his condition for some time, but now, as Mikhail added, she was "pushed aside."

Butyagin's father suggested that the proceedings could "drag on" for a long time, and also expressed the hope that a "blessed combination" of circumstances would occur during the investigation. He pointed out his concern that Alexander, who was under investigation, might be burdensome and stated that he was currently thinking about what ideas could be submitted to him to distract his son from what was happening.

According to Mikhail, in conclusion, the archaeologist worked for a long time on a book, the text of which remained to be edited and referenced, but now this process has stopped.

In Warsaw, a court approved the extradition of a Russian archaeologist to Ukraine. What is known

Butyagin was detained in Poland on December 11, 2025 for allegedly illegal archaeological research in the Republic of Crimea. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the incident a legal outrage on the same day, and Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova later said on January 13 that Ukraine's accusations against the Russian were absurd.

Andrei Ordash, Charge d'affaires of the Russian Federation in Poland, said on January 15 that the Russian side was providing all possible assistance to the archaeologist and was also trying to maintain contact with the Polish prosecutor's office. The Court of the Republic refused to change the measure of restraint for Butyagin, and later decided to extradite him to Ukraine.

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