Russian archaeologist Alexander Butyagin, the head of the archaeology department at the Hermitage Museum who was arrested last December in Poland and wanted in Ukraine for conducting excavations in Crimea, holds a press conference after being freed in the last week`s US-brokered deal on prisoners exchange between Belarus and European countries, at the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg on May 4, 2026. (Photo by Olga MALTSEVA / AFP)