Poland charges Ukrainian with assisting in Russian rail sabotage

Polish prosecutors have charged a Ukrainian man with assisting in the recent sabotage of a rail line in Poland on behalf of Russia. He is the first person to directly hear charges in the case, after the two main suspects fled to Belarus immediately after the incident.

On Monday, the National Prosecutor’s Office announced that a Ukrainian citizen, named only as Volodymyr B. under Polish privacy law, had on 22 November been charged with working on behalf of Russian intelligence and providing assistance to the direct perpetrators of the rail sabotage, which took place on 15-16 November.

That assistance included Volodymyr B. taking one of the main perpetrators, Yevhenii I., to the planned area of sabotage in September, enabling him to carry out reconnaissance and choose a place to plant the explosives and metal device later used in an attempt to derail trains, as well as a recording device.

Volodymyr B. had been detained on 20 November by police officers from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBŚP), after they had obtained evidence of his involvement in the crime. After charges were filed, he was questioned by prosecutors as a suspect and a court approved his further detention.

On 18 November, two days after the sabotage was discovered, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that it had been carried out by two Ukrainians working on behalf of Russia, who had immediately fled over the border into Belarus.

The following day, prosecutors named them the pair as Oleksandr K. and Yevhenii I., in keeping with Polish privacy law. However, Polish media outlets have fully identified the suspects as Yevhenii Ivanov and Oleksandr Kononov.

Prosecutors have drafted charges against the pair and, on 20 November, Poland issued a diplomatic note to Belarus asking that it hand them over. However, given Belarus’s close relationship with Russia, the prospects of extradition appear slim.

Meanwhile, Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, ordered Russia to close its consulate in Gdańsk – the last one it was allowed to operate in Poland – in retaliation for the sabotage.

Poland has in recent years been hit with a series of acts of sabotage carried out by operatives – often Ukrainians and Belarusians – recruited by Russia.

Today, Onet, a leading news website, reported, based on unnamed sources, that four Ukrainians detained in Poland last week on suspicion of assisting in the rail sabotage have already been released after prosecutors reportedly found that they had not knowingly aided the saboteurs.