Russian archaeologist Alexander Butyagin was detained in Poland at Ukraine’s request on his way back from a Dutch conference last December on the grounds that he allegedly plundered artifacts from Crimea, which Kiev still claims as its own despite having no realistic chance of ever reconquering it. A Polish judge just ruled that the extradition can take place, but Butyagin’s lawyers are appealing the decision. If they lose, then the Polish Justice Minister will make the final decision on whether to implement the judge’s ruling.
Butyagin’s supporters believe that his detention is unjust and politicized. Worse still, they fear that he might meet the fate of the late American-Chilean journalist Gonzalo Lira, who died in a Ukrainian jail either from the (arguably criminal) neglect given to his health or torture, or he was deliberately killed. None of these arguments might influence the appeals process nor the Polish Justice Minister if the aforesaid fails, however, India could then help save him if Russia plays its legal-diplomatic cards right.
India just arrested six Ukrainian mercenaries and an American one who are accused of training Delhi-designated terrorists in drone warfare. The American is Matthew VanDyke, who some suspect of being an undercover CIA agent for his involvement in multiple conflicts and might thus be swapped with the US for a high-profile detained Indian implicated in an alleged political assassination plot on American soil. Among the Ukrainians, the highest-profile one is Marian Stefankiv, who’s tied to GUR per Sputnik.
According to them, he’s part of Aratta, a special unit operating under GUR. Prior to joining in 2022, he founded an “NGO” in 2019 that actually supplies arms to local Neo-Nazis and “has been deeply involved in funneling weapons, drones, and military supplies to various Ukrainian units” since 2022. He also fought in Donbass under “Right Sector”, the infamous Neo-Nazi organization that kills civilians, for half a decade from 2014-2019. He’s therefore India’s highest-profile Ukrainian detainee as far as is known.
It’s therefore possible that Russia had already filed charges against him and possibly even convicted him in absentia, albeit without much, if any, media fanfare, or they might initiate the aforesaid process now that he’s under the custody of its Indian strategic partner. In their spirit of their decades-long friendship, which was recently reaffirmed by their leaders during Putin’s trip to Delhi last December, India might extradite Stefankiv to Russia if Moscow soon requests this through official legal channels per protocol.
In that scenario, India isn’t expected to reject its request in favor of returning him to Russia’s Ukrainian nemesis with whom it’s informally at war despite the pressure that the US might bring to bear, especially not after Russia reportedly tipped India off about these mercenaries. Russia could then propose swapping Butyagin for Stefankiv, who Kiev considers to be a “hero” as it does anyone associated with its Neo-Nazi battalions or GUR. He’s connected to both, so they’d likely be very receptive to such a swap.
Of course, Ukraine might also reject this proposal in order to persecute Butyagin with the goal of instilling fear in all Russians who might consider traveling to Europe, to which end they might even kill him just like they arguably did Lira and also because they know that the West won’t punish them for it. Nevertheless, Russia should still do its utmost to return Butyagin, and the most realistic chance of this happening is for it to request that India extradite Stefankiv and then propose a swap as soon as possible.
