Who Is Defending the Archaeologist Oleksandr Butyagin

Later today the Warsaw District Court will begin hearing Ukraine’s request to extradite Oleksandr Butyagin, an archaeologist employed by Russia’s State Hermitage Museum who conducted excavations in Ukrainian Crimea without Ukraine’s permission.

Mr Butyagin will be represented by Adam Domański, a partner at the small Polish firm Kondracki Celej. In a recent interview he noted that the firm “specialises in extradition cases, including representing Russian citizens”.

In the same interview, Mr Domański was asked whether Russia’s foreign ministry or ministry of culture had taken any steps in the matter.

“As Oleksandr’s lawyer, I remain in contact with the Russian embassy in Warsaw, the diplomatic mission of my client’s country of origin,” he said. “Embassy staff helped us establish contact with the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and facilitated the transfer of documents necessary for Oleksandr’s defence, before we were able to contact the museum directly.”

Mr Butyagin is not paying for his defence himself. Some €33,000, around 25% of the target sum, was reportedly raised at the family’s request by ordinary Russians via Boosty, a crowdfunding platform popular with Russian bloggers. I have also seen several Instagram posts soliciting donations directly to the law firm’s account.

The Hermitage itself, according to Meduza, declined to cover legal fees but “allowed staff to chip in privately”.

At first glance, a grassroots fundraiser to defend an innocent Russian archaeologist might suggest that the case is of little interest to Russian propaganda. In fact, the opposite appears to be true.

Last year I wrote about how rarely Russia’s foreign ministry intervenes on behalf of citizens detained abroad. Since February 2022 it has publicly expressed concern only five or six times, and always in cases involving hackers or, as the saying goes, “men in unattractive state uniforms”. This time, however, the ministry did more than issue a statement. It summoned Poland’s ambassador to complain that the grounds for Mr Butyagin’s detention were “absurd”.

For an institution usually so selective in its compassion, that is a telling display of interest.

This is what happened at the first hearing: