Six arrested in Poland for spying for Russia
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on L’essentiel
Poland’s internal security services have arrested six people, five Poles and a Russian national, suspected of supplying Russia with components for munitions and weapons systems. Four suspects have been charged and remanded in custody, while nearly 100 people have been charged since January 2024, according to the ABW and minister Tomasz Siemoniak.
Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) announced on Thursday the arrest of six people suspected of spying for Russian intelligence services and supporting Russia’s military capabilities, according to the ABW. The group allegedly supplied Russia with military-use components intended, among other things, for the manufacture of munitions and weapons systems.
The suspects are five Poles aged between 25 and 52 and a 37-year-old Russian national, said Tomasz Siemoniak, the Polish minister responsible for special services. Four of them, including the Russian national, have been charged with espionage and placed in pre-trial detention for three months, according to the ABW.
The investigators also accuse them of breaching rules governing the international trade in strategic goods and technologies for defence and security. Nearly 100 people have been charged since 1 January 2024 in ABW investigations into suspected espionage and sabotage, Tomasz Siemoniak said.
Poland, a member of Nato and the European Union, serves as the main transit route for Western military and humanitarian aid bound for Ukraine. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday that the authorities had thwarted a possible provocation on the border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. The arrests come after Russian bombardments in Zaporizhzhia oblast, reported on 3 November.
