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A Russian man who is a senior official from the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg has been detained in Poland on the basis of a warrant issued by Ukraine, which accuses him of conducting illegal archaeological excavations in Russian-occupied Crimea.
The arrest has prompted an angry response from Moscow, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov describing the actions of the Polish authorities as “legal tyranny”. The Russian foreign ministry has promised there will be “consequences” for Poland.
Kreml oskarżył Polskę o "prawną tyranię" po tym, jak Warszawa aresztowała rosyjskiego archeologa na prośbę Ukrainy. Znany rosyjski naukowiec, wysoko postawiony przedstawiciel Muzeum Ermitaż, został zatrzymany w Polsce. Jak dowiedział się reporter RMF FM, Aleksandr B. wpadł w ręce…
— Fakty RMF FM (@RMF24pl) December 11, 2025
The news was first broken by Polish broadcaster RMF, which identified the man only as Aleksandr B. in accordance with Polish privacy law. Polish authorities later confirmed the arrest.
He was reportedly detained last week at a hotel in Warsaw while travelling from the Netherlands to the Balkans, where he had been due to give a series of lectures.
Kyiv alleges that the man led search teams in Russian-occupied Crimea and carried out unauthorised excavations at the Ancient City of Myrmekion in Kerch. Ukrainian investigators say the work caused partial destruction of the cultural heritage site.
According to Polish media, Ukrainian prosecutors are now preparing a formal extradition request, after which a Polish court will decide whether to hand him over. The suspect faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
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He was later questioned by prosecutors in Warsaw, who then sought his provisional detention under extradition rules and the Polish-Ukrainian legal assistance agreement. A court approved the request and ordered that he be held for 40 days, RMF reports.
The spokesman for Poland’s security services, Jacek Dobrzyński, confirmed the arrest, which, he told the Polish Press Agency (PAP), happened on 4 December.
He added that “the proceedings concern illegal archaeological excavations conducted between 2014 and 2019 in the territories of Ukraine currently occupied by Russia”.
Polish prosecutors have filed five charges against a Russian man accused of running an espionage and sabotage network in Poland.
He is alleged to have coordinated a group of at least 30 operatives on behalf of Russia’s Federal Security Service https://t.co/BMpdFFLFQg
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) December 2, 2025
Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said representatives of the Russian embassy visited the man and are in contact with his defence team, reported Russian news agency Interfax. She added that Aleksandr B.’s lawyer is appealing the court’s decision to temporarily detain him.
“Poland understands the absurdity of accusations against a respected Russian archaeologist of ‘destroying cultural heritage’ on Russian territory and is aware that such politicised actions…will not remain without consequences,” said Zakhorova, who also confirmed Aleksandr B. is an employee of the Hermitage museum.
Peskov, meanwhile, told reporters that the case “is absolute legal tyranny”, adding that Russia would seek to protect its citizen’s interests through diplomatic channels.
Prosecutors have charged a Ukrainian man with assisting in the recent rail sabotage in Poland on behalf of Russia.
He is the first person to directly hear charges in the case, after the two main suspects fled to Belarus immediately after the attack https://t.co/rA4gsRZoQf
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) November 24, 2025
European Pravda, a Ukrainian online newspaper, reports that the suspect may be an individual who was indicted in absentia by the Security Service of Ukraine in November 2024.
Ukrainian officials have repeatedly said that, since the occupation began in 2014, the Crimean peninsula has been subject to systematic plunder of its historical heritage.
Tensions between Poland and Russia have escalated in recent years, especially after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a country Poland staunchly supports.
Meanwhile, operatives working on behalf of Russia have carried out a campaign of sabotage in Poland, resulting in a diplomatic dispute that has led to the closure of all Russian and Polish consulates in the respective countries.
Russia has ordered the closure of the Polish consulate in Irkutsk in retaliation for Poland’s “hostile and unjustified” decision to shut Russia’s consulate in Gdańsk.
The decisions mean that neither country will have any consulates operating in the other https://t.co/l9WtIsjAc3
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) November 27, 2025
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Służby Specjalne (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL), Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea
Alicja Ptak is deputy editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She has written for Clean Energy Wire and The Times, and she hosts her own podcast, The Warsaw Wire, on Poland’s economy and energy sector. She previously worked for Reuters.
