The suspicions, issued in August but reported only now by the BBC Russian Service and the Ukrainian outlet Graty, target researchers who continued work at the medieval city of Solkhat, the historic capital of Crimea under the Golden Horde.
Two of the five scientists have been named: Mark Kramarovsky, an 86-year-old doctor of historical sciences who founded the State Hermitage Museum's Starokrymskaya (Golden Horde) archaeological expedition in 1978, and Emil Seidaliev, a senior researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of Crimea. The BBC did not disclose the names of the other three suspects.
Investigators say the archaeologists did not halt work at the Solkhat site after Russia annexed the peninsula in 2014. The researchers obtained excavation permits from Russian authorities, which Ukraine does not recognize.
According to the Ukrainian prosecutor's office, the expedition's finds were transferred to Crimean museums and registered as part of the Russian Federation's Museum Fund, which Kyiv regards as the unlawful appropriation of Ukrainian cultural heritage. The scientists are also accused of destroying a cultural layer that, according to Graty, can no longer be restored.
The suspicions were filed under a charge of violating the laws and customs of war by prior conspiracy. The charges carry potential sentences of 8 to 12 years in prison.
Emil Seidaliev called the criminal case against himself and his colleagues a farce. In comments to the BBC Russian Service, he said that as a Crimean Tatar whose ancestors lived in Crimea their entire lives, he could not leave the peninsula. According to him, Crimean Tatar monuments are located on the territory of Crimea, and he must research and preserve them.
Mark Kramarovsky did not comment to the press.
The Hermitage's Golden Horde expedition has worked in Crimea since 1978, initially under permits from Soviet supervisory agencies and later under the auspices of Ukrainian authorities. After the 2014 annexation, which Ukraine, the UN and most countries consider illegal, excavation permits have been issued by the Russian side. Ukraine does not recognize those documents and considers archaeological work without its consent a crime.
In December 2025, Poland detained Russian archaeologist Alexander Butyagin at Ukraine's request. Butyagin was the longtime head of the Hermitage's Myrmekion expedition, which studied an ancient settlement on the territory of present-day Kerch. He conducted excavations there from 1999 and continued after 2014, citing the need to preserve the site. Ukraine accused him of partially destroying a cultural heritage site and causing damage worth more than 201.6 million hryvnias (about 3.9 million euros). In April 2026, Poland handed Butyagin over to Russia as part of an exchange.
After his release, the Ukrainian prosecutor's office reclassified Butyagin's case under a war crimes charge of looting national treasures in occupied territory by prior conspiracy. A court in Kyiv authorized an in-absentia investigation of the new case, which also allows for an in-absentia trial. According to Evelina Kravchenko, a senior researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, whom the BBC cites, the charge was changed to a more serious one to guarantee the scientist's extradition to Ukraine if he is arrested again in a third country.