HUR Publishes Details Of Russian Archaeologists Involved In Excavations At Tauric Chersonesus And Myrmekion

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) The HUR said this in a statement seen by Ukrinform.

The information has been published on the War&Sanctions portal in the "Stolen Heritage" section.

According to the report, since 2020–2021, Russian forces have been conducting large-scale illegal archaeological excavations at and near Tauric Chersonesus as part of the "New Chersonesus" project. In particular, in July 2024, a historical and archaeological park and the "New Chersonesus" museum and cathedral complex were opened as part of the project.

According to military intelligence, construction of the complex involved interference with the site's historical and archaeological environment. In particular, construction work caused significant damage to and destruction of part of the cultural layer.

The HUR published details of four people involved in the project, including:

• Natalya Solovyova, director of the Center for Rescue Archaeology at the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences;
• Ivan Yesin, director of the "My History" Foundation for the Support of Humanities;
• Maksim Zhukalov, the so-called deputy governor of the city of Sevastopol;
• Larisa Shepko, a professor at the Department of World History of the "Donetsk State University."

"Among those whose details have been published is also Nadezhda Milikhina, a junior researcher at the Department of the History of Ancient Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of the History of Material Culture. She was deputy to Russian archaeologist Alexander Butyagin during the illegal Myrmekion archaeological expedition of the State Hermitage Museum in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea," the intelligence agency added.

The HUR said that in 2024, the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol notified Butyagin of suspicion of intentionally and unlawfully partially destroying a cultural heritage site. In 2026, the suspicion was amended to "violations of the laws and customs of war." He was detained in Poland in late 2025, and in April 2026, Poland released him and handed him over to Russia as part of a prisoner exchange.

In addition, the HUR published information on 14 cultural artifacts stolen from the "Ancient City of Myrmekion" during the expedition. They include a coin of King Sauromates II of the Bosporan Kingdom (AD 180–196) and a black-glazed one-handled kantharos (370–350 BC).

The HUR had previously published information on 20 Ukrainian cultural artifacts stolen by Russia, as well as seven people involved in illegal archaeological work, the distortion of history and the justification of the seizure of Ukrainian territories.

Photo credit: HUR

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