‘Propaganda uses me now in both directions,’ says Russian archaeologist freed in prisoner exchange

Alexander Butyagin, a St. Petersburg archaeologist and Hermitage Museum researcher, was arrested in Warsaw in late 2025. He was detained at Ukraine’s request, which alleges that after 2014 he conducted illegal excavations in Crimea and destroyed a cultural heritage site. In April, the archaeologist was returned to Russia in a prisoner exchange. A few days after his release, Butyagin, who does not consider his work a crime, said he would soon return to Crimea. In a new interview — this time with Kommersant — Butyagin described how he was arrested and exchanged, and responded to colleagues who had criticized his work in Crimea after 2014. He also spoke about politics and about how both Russian and Ukrainian propaganda now use him for their own purposes. We have selected the key quotes from the interview.

Original source: Meduza