People have been questioning the authenticity of Mr Putin's amphorae find all week. The prime minister brought the ancient vases up from the bottom of Taman Bay. A photo showing Putin holding two ancient vessels have been the most popular. An inscription on one of the amphorae says: "To Vladimir Putin from the ancient Greeks with love."
Were those artifacts planted under water for the prime minister? And where have those ill-fated amphorae gone? We phoned Vladimir Kuznetsov, Phanagoria expedition leader and head of the classical archaeology department at the Archaeology Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who dived to the bottom of Taman Bay along side the prime minister.
"Vladimir, don't you think it's high time to admit that the amphorae were planted at the sea bottom for Mr. Putin?"
"First of all, those were only pieces of amphorae. Secondly, he honestly picked them up from the sea bottom, he honestly earned them. In fact, a third of Phanagoria is covered by sea now, and we conduct underwater projects near the former port of Phanagoria. Many trade ships visited this port in ancient times. Some of the goods that they transported were stored in such amphorae. Many amphorae were broken after the long journey, so broken amphorae were thrown into the sea. We find thousands of such broken amphora pieces during a working season, and many of them are big pieces. In fact, any diver can easily find amphora pieces at the sea bottom here."
"Were the artifacts in question given to the prime minister as a gift?"
"We never give artifacts to anybody. We keep them, clean them and study them. Later, we might display them in museums."
"Were "Putin's" vessels valuable for science?"
"I repeat: this is mass archaeological material dating to the 6th century A.D. We find many such vessels."
Georgy Kokunko, director of the non-profit organization "Historical and Cultural Heritage of Kuban," agrees with Mr. Kuznetsov: "Amphorae are typical of the archaeological material found by the Phanagoria expedition. Nobody would pay too much attention even if they were found by a young student. There are plenty of ceramic pieces at the bottom of Taman Bay. A rare coin found by Mr. Putin would have been far more valuable."
By Yekaterina Petukhova