Poland arrested 18 people accused of planning hostile acts on behalf of Russia and Belarus

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland has arrested 18 people over the past six months on various allegations of pursuing hostile activities or planning sabotage on behalf of Russia and neighboring Belarus, and at least one was involved in an alleged plot to assassinate the Ukrainian president. the Minister of the Interior declared on Monday.

Ten of those arrested since December were directly involved in planning various forms of sabotage, such as arson, across Poland, the interior minister said. Tomasz Siemoniak said at a press conference.

Polish, Belarusian and Ukrainian nationals are among those arrested in recent months, according to press releases from the Internal Security Agency.

A Pole was arrested in April on charges of being prepared to spy for Russian military intelligence as part of an alleged plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Polish prosecutors said. The man allegedly sought to contact Russians involved in the war in Ukraine and was to pass on detailed information about the strategic Rzeszow-Jasionka airport, near the Polish-Ukrainian border.

Separately, a Ukrainian and a Belarusian were tried last month for being members of a Russian spy network that planned acts of railway sabotage in Poland in 2023 and monitored rail routes used to transport weapons and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. .

The men confessed to the charges which also included monitoring the security of the Baltic Sea ports of Gdansk and Gdynia, according to the official PAP news agency. If convicted, they face up to eight years in prison.

The interior minister said the sabotage acts were apparently part of a broader plan that also includes cyberattacks, pushing Belarusian migrants to cross into Poland and threatening the security of a country that has supported Ukraine during the full-scale invasion of Russia.

“We are convinced that, at the request of a foreign country, Russia, some people are ready to threaten the lives, health and property of Polish citizens,” Siemoniak said.