Polish police have arrested nine people in connection with acts of sabotage committed in the country on the orders of Russian intelligence services, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Monday. The detainees are of Polish, Ukrainian and Belarusian nationality. Warsaw claims the country’s position as a supply hub to Ukraine has made it a key target for Russian intelligence services, and accuses Moscow of trying to destabilize the country.
”Currently, we have nine suspects detained and accused of participating in acts of sabotage in Poland directly on behalf of Russian services,” Tusk told private channel TVN24. He added that among the actions carried out or planned by this group were “beatings and arson” and pointed out the possibility that the detainees could have been hired by “criminal circles.”
“The influence of Russian and Kremlin agents on what is happening in Poland at various levels of the Government and Administration requires an investigation,” he said. In addition, this Tuesday he presented the creation of a commission to investigate Russian and Belarusian influence on Poland’s internal security.
About 10 days ago, a series of fires were reported in Poland in various parts of the country, which are suspected to have been intentionally set. One of those fires, which, according to an investigation, had eight simultaneous outbreaks, devastated a shopping center in the Polish capital. Tusk explained that the plans of the nine defendants allegedly “affected several countries, especially Lithuania, Latvia and Poland,” and that the information that led to the arrests came from Sweden.
The Polish Government announced at the beginning of the month that Poland would allocate an additional 25 million euros to its intelligence services due to the growing threat of espionage, information interference and sabotage attempts allegedly supported by Moscow.
In April, two people of Polish nationality were arrested on suspicion of having attacked Leonid Volkov, a collaborator of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny who lives in exile in Poland. Tusk said then that Poland had also detained a Belarusian citizen who worked for Russia and that he was suspected of ordering the attack.
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Another Polish citizen was arrested in Poland in April, accused of having plans to cooperate with Russian intelligence services in preparing a possible attack against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Kremlin declined to comment on the case at the time. The media has also reported the arrest of a Pole suspected of threatening exiled Russian economist and activist Maxim Mironov.
A few days ago, the Tusk Government reported that “dozens” of threats directed against the head of the Polish Executive had been dismantled, from attempted harassment to “physical attacks.” “In countries such as Germany, Austria or Estonia, arrests have recently taken place of people involved in acts of espionage in favor of Russia,” he indicated.
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