Poland frees Russian archaeologist in multi-country border swap

Poland on Monday released a Russian archaeologist jailed for excavating in Russian-occupied Crimea, carrying out a multi-country prisoner exchange at the Belarusian-Polish border that simultaneously freed a Polish journalist from a Belarusian prison, the Korea Times reported.

The swap underscores the diplomatic complexity of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as multiple governments negotiate the release of detained nationals through Cold War-style border transactions — with Crimea's contested status since Russia's 2014 annexation at the heart of the case.

Alexander Butyagin, head of the archaeology department at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, was freed at the Belarusian-Polish border under a multi-country arrangement, Russian state media reported. Butyagin had been imprisoned in Poland and was facing extradition to Ukraine, according to the Korea Times.

Ukraine sought his prosecution for conducting excavations in Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014. Kyiv considers such activities a violation of its sovereignty over the peninsula, which it has never recognized as Russian territory.

A Polish journalist was also released from a Belarusian prison as part of the same deal, the Korea Times reported. Polish authorities did not immediately disclose the journalist's identity.

Russia's FSB security service confirmed the transaction in a statement carried by state media. "As a result of an exchange carried out on the Belarusian-Polish section of the border, two citizens of our country were returned to their homeland," the FSB said, according to state media.

The exchange is the latest in a series of multi-party prisoner swaps tied to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Moscow's broader standoff with Western-aligned governments. Such deals have required careful diplomatic coordination among multiple nations.

The full terms of the multi-country arrangement were not immediately disclosed, and no date has been announced for further exchanges.