Poland detains 6 foreigners alleged to be spying for Russia

By Jo Harper

WARSAW (AA) - Poland has detained six foreigners alleged to be spying on behalf of the Russian special services, Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski confirmed on Thursday in Warsaw.

A report on radio station RMF FM said the group was to be detained in connection with hidden cameras recording traffic on "important railway routes and junctions," reportedly in Podkarpacie, near the Ukraine border. "In connection with this action, officers of the services and the police were put on high alert," the radio station reported.

On Thursday, Kaminski officially confirmed the information. He said that six people have been arrested and three others are in temporary detention.

Kaminski said that ABW officers secured cameras, electronic equipment, and GPS devices meant to be mounted on aid shipments to Ukraine.

He added that the group had also been commissioned to carry out propaganda activities to destabilize Polish-Ukrainian relations, fuel anti-NATO sentiment, and undermine the Polish government's policy toward Ukraine.

“This is definite proof that the Polish services act for the security of our country in a very efficient manner,” Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said.

“I would like to strongly emphasize the great success achieved by officers of the Internal Security Agency (ABW), because the whole spy network has been wound up,” Blaszczak said.

“If we're dealing with a spy ring, they're obviously gathering information for a specific purpose,” he said, according to news portal niezalezna.pl.

The ABW has not issued a statement on the detention of foreigners so far.

According to a report cited by CNN, hackers linked to the Russian military attacked the networks of European military, energy and transport organizations as part of an espionage campaign. In some cases, they managed to infiltrate the infrastructure and penetrate it for months.

President Andrzej Duda met CIA Director William Burns on Wednesday to discuss "the current security situation."

Poland will send 10 more German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine this week, Blaszczak said on March 7.