On March 18, a Polish court approved the extradition of Russian archaeologist Alexander Butyagin to Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities charge him with excavations in Crimea after 2014, which they equate to “destruction of monuments.” Butyagin was arrested in Warsaw in December 2025 and has been in prison since then. Director and journalist Sergei Erzhenkov explains why science should not obey wartime laws and accuses the Russian opposition of a conspiracy of silence.

Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing. Photo by ADEK BERRY / POOL / AFP Russia is losing its position in the Global South - after failures in Syria, Venezuela, as well as the inability to help partners in Iran and Cuba, even publicists loyal to the Kremlin admit the collapse of the “turn to the East” concept.

Military SUV of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Izyum, Kharkov region. Photo by IVAN SAMOILOV / AFP Negotiations on Ukraine, which had not previously been very successful, turned out to be virtually frozen due to the war between Israel and the United States with Iran.