Secret Multi-Country Prisoner Swap Frees Russian Archaeologist
Butyagin, a senior researcher at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, was detained in Poland last December while traveling in Europe on a lecture tour. Ukrainian authorities had requested his extradition, accusing him of participating in illegal archaeological excavations and causing damage to cultural heritage sites in Crimea—a territory Russia controls but Ukraine claims as its own.
As stated by reports, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) confirmed on Tuesday that Butyagin was released earlier in the day. In exchange, Moscow reportedly freed two officers from Moldova’s Security and Intelligence Service who had been detained by Russian authorities in June of the previous year.
According to BELTA, citing Belarus’ State Security Committee (KGB), the swap took place at the Belarus–Poland border after negotiations that began in September 2025. The report claims that the process was coordinated with involvement from intelligence agencies across seven different countries and overseen personally by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Under the arrangement, Poland released three Belarusian nationals described by the outlet as individuals involved in “carrying out highly important tasks in the interest of [Belarusian] national security and defense.” In return, Belarus released Andrzej Poczobut, an opposition figure of Polish descent.
The identities of several other individuals freed in the exchange have not been publicly disclosed.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, speaking at a joint press conference with John Coal, a special envoy for US President Donald Trump on Belarus, said the deal would not have been possible without US involvement. He added that Poland released three people, including the Russian archaeologist, as part of the agreement.
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