A long-time employee of the Ministry of Defense in Warsaw has been arrested on suspicion of espionage. The ministry confirmed the arrest. According to the Polish news portal Onet, which cited its military sources, the 60-year-old man is suspected of spying for Russia and Belarus.
After a long surveillance
The suspect had worked in middle management positions in the Strategy and Planning Department since the 1990s. According to the ministry's statement, the alleged agent was exposed by military counterintelligence, and the military police and the prosecutor's office participated in the arrest. Such a case has not happened at the Ministry of Defense for years, the publication's sources told the Polish portal Onet. Further arrests are not ruled out.
The official was under surveillance by military counterintelligence for a long time while evidence was being collected against him, said special services spokesman Jacek Dobrzynski. If convicted, the man could face a life sentence for treason. Dobrzynski added that most of those arrested for collaborating with Russian intelligence were Russians, Ukrainians or Belarusians, but arrests of Poles were also increasing.
Sabotage, espionage, airspace violations
Poland is of particular interest to Russian intelligence as an eastern NATO partner and a hub for military assistance to Ukraine. The government in Warsaw accuses Moscow of various forms of hybrid warfare: espionage, sabotage, drone incursions into Polish airspace and the deliberate smuggling of migrants from Belarus. The Russian government has repeatedly rejected such accusations and accuses NATO countries of spreading anti-Russian propaganda.
A Polish citizen working in the archives of Warsaw City Hall was detained in 2022 on suspicion of working for Russia for five years and passing on valuable personal data to create false identities. Many citizens of the former USSR - especially Belarusian citizens - enjoy special privileges in Poland if they can prove Polish origin. These privileges include an accelerated procedure for obtaining citizenship and access to local universities and schools. According to security analysts, historical archives may have been used to create false identities.
Another Pole, a 50-year-old resident of the border town of Hrubieszow, was recently sentenced to three years and six months for passing information about the Jasionka-Rzeszow airport to Russian intelligence services to help in a plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The plot was foiled in 2024. The airport in Jasionka-Rzeszow is a key hub for the transfer of weapons and humanitarian aid, as well as a stopover for high-ranking officials traveling to and from Ukraine.
In January, a Polish court opened proceedings against four Ukrainians and one Russian accused of carrying out a covert Russian operation in 2024, the ultimate goal of which was to cause fires on board cargo or passenger planes flying to the United States and Canada.
Author: Mina Kirkova