Poland charges three of its own citizens with working for Russian intelligence

Poland has charged three of its own citizens with working on behalf of Russian intelligence. They are accused of spreading disinformation, conducting reconnaissance of NATO troops, and undergoing firearms training in order to prepare for acts of sabotage.

On Wednesday morning, the National Prosecutor’s Office announced that charges had been brought against the trio, who were named only by their initials: AĆ (aged 62), DC (aged 50) and AP (aged 48). They were detained on 12 May by Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW).

“The suspects’ activities were aimed at providing propaganda support for Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, as well as actively engaging in fundraising for the purchase of equipment for the Russian military,” wrote the prosecutor’s office.

“The detainees also performed a number of intelligence-gathering tasks commissioned by an identified Russian citizen associated with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), including reconnaissance of the location of NATO troops stationed in Poland,” they added.

Prosecutors also say that “members of the group underwent training in firearms and battlefield tactics, which constituted preparations for sabotage missions”.

The spokesman for the National Prosecutor’s Office, Przemysław Nowak, told a press conference later on Wednesday that “the suspects belonged to an informal pro-Russian paramilitary organisation”, reports news website Wirtualna Polska.

The trio have been charged under sections of Poland’s espionage law carrying a minimum sentence of eight years in prison, ranging up to life. After being charged and questioned, all three pleaded not guilty. A court has agreed to a request from prosecutors to place the suspects in pretrial detention.​ 

Poland has in recent years been a primary target for Russia’s so-called “hybrid actions”, which include acts of sabotage, disinformation and cyberattacks, as well as espionage.

A report earlier this year by the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism identified Poland as “the most frequently targeted country” in Europe for acts of sabotage orchestrated by Russia.

Earlier this month, the ABW released figures showing that it launched twice as many espionage investigations in 2025 as in 2024. Over those two years combined, there were more investigations than across the previous three decades.

Moscow often carries out such actions not through traditional agents trained at home and sent abroad to conduct missions, but through people already on the ground, often amateurs hired through online messaging service Telegram and paid in cryptocurrencies.

Many such “disposable agents”, as they are often called, come from Poland’s large Ukrainian and Belarusian migrant communities. But some others have been Poles, motivated either by the money on offer or in some cases by ideological sympathies with Russia.

Last October, Polish prosecutors indicted a former employee of Warsaw city hall accused of spying for Russia. In February, a 29-year-old Polish man was indicted on suspicion of passing on information about Polish and NATO infrastructure to Russian intelligence.

Last month, prosecutors charged a soldier from Poland’s Territorial Defence Force with espionage. The suspect was reportedly active in a pro-Russian, anti-Ukrainian far-right group.

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.