Polish far-right activists – one a suspected Russian spy – charged over confrontation with Ukrainian

Two Polish far-right activists have been charged over an incident in which they confronted a Ukrainian woman who runs a business that provides services to other Ukrainian immigrants. It has since emerged that one of the two men was separately charged this year for alleged espionage on behalf of Russia.

A recording of the incident went viral on social media this week, with many, including the interior minister, condemning the men’s actions and praising the woman’s calm response. The episode has taken place against the backdrop of a diplomatic dispute between Poland and Ukraine over World War Two history.

The confrontation began when the two men, filmed by an unseen female associate, knocked on the door of the offices of a company in the Polish city of Poznań that offers assistance to Ukrainian migrants – by far Poland’s largest foreign national group – in obtaining residence and work permits, among other services.

The manager of the office, Nataliia Fedoriuk, a Ukrainian who has lived in Poland for a decade, came into the corridor to speak with the trio, who said they “want to see what [her office] looks like…because we know that Ukraine is currently hostile to the Polish nation”.

They repeatedly asked her if she “supports Stepan Bandera”, a historical Ukrainian nationalist leader, some of whose followers massacred Poles during World War Two. The visitors also claimed that Fedoriuk’s business is responsible for “bringing foreigners here” and “mixing up ethnic structures” in Poland.

Fedoriuk, speaking in fluent Polish, refused to allow the group to enter her offices, informed them that all her activities are legal, and suggested that, if they had any doubts, they should go to the police. She also said that she “supports and respects Poles very much”.

One of the men, who can only be named as Przemysław G. under Polish privacy law, is wearing a T-shirt indicating support for veteran far-right politician Janusz Korwin-Mikke.

In 2023, Przemysław G. stood as a parliamentary election candidate for the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja) group that is now Poland’s second-largest opposition party, though he failed to win a seat.

Korwin-Mikke has since split with Confederation and is now associated with Grzegorz Braun, another far-right leader who was thrown out of Confederation last year and is known for particularly radical anti-Ukrainian and antisemitic rhetoric, as well as for taking a sympathetic position towards Russia.

The other man has been named as Jarosław K. A number of leading media outlets, including Polsat News, broadcaster TVN, and the Gazeta Wyborcza daily, report that he is the same Jarosław K. who was earlier this year charged with espionage on behalf of Russia.

At the time those earlier charges were first reported, various media outlets noted that Jarosław K. was active in a pro-Russian far-right group. He had also been a member of the Territorial Defence Force (WOT), a volunteer reserve that is part of Poland’s armed forces.

However, news website Interia reports that, when Jarosław K. was charged with espionage, a court refused prosecutors’ request to place him in pretrial detention after finding that there was not sufficient evidence to indicate that he had acted on behalf of Russian intelligence.

Przemysław G. and Jarosław K.’s confrontation with Fedoriuk was condemned by figures from Poland’s current ruling coalition, which ranges from left to centre right.

“There is no consent for hatred and aggression,” wrote interior minister Marcin Kierwiński on social media, promising that “the police will react decisively”.

On Wednesday, a police spokesman announced that they had detained two men in relation to the incident. Then, on Thursday, prosecutors said that the pair had been charged with criminal defamation against Fedoriuk, an offence punishable by up to one year in prison. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Fedoriuk herself told the Rzeczpospolita daily that the incident had made her “fear for my safety”. But she added that, since it happened, she has received a lot of support from Polish people and “in no way do I consider this incident to reflect the attitude of the majority of society”.

The episode came in the context of heightened tensions between Poland and Ukraine in the wake of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to name a military unit after a group linked to Bandera that led the massacre of around 100,000 Polish civilians during World War Two.

That prompted Polish President Karol Nawrocki to strip Zelensky of Poland’s highest honour, after which Zelensky cancelled a trip to Poland. However, the two men met during the NATO summit in Turkey this week in an effort to reach a compromise.

Opinion polls indicate that sympathy towards Ukraine and Ukrainians has been declining in Poland. Meanwhile, support for far-right groups that take anti-Ukrainian positions, such as Confederation and Braun’s Confederation of the Polish Crown (KKP), has been rising.

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.