Polish man arrested over alleged Russian plot to assassinate Zelenskiy
A Polish man has been arrested on allegations that he aided a plot by Russian intelligence services to assassinate the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, according to Polish and Ukrainian prosecutors.
The office of Poland’s national prosecutor said in a statement that the man, identified only as Pawel K, was accused of being prepared to pass airport security information to Russian agents and that he was arrested in Poland on Wednesday.
The man was seeking contact with Russians directly involved in the war in Ukraine and was expected to pass on detailed information about Rzeszów-Jasionka airport in south-eastern Poland, near the Ukrainian border, which is the gateway for international military and humanitarian supplies for Ukraine.
The airport, which is under the control of US troops, often serves international leaders and aid workers travelling in and out of Ukraine, and is frequently visited by Zelenskiy.
If convicted, the man could face up to eight years in prison, the statement said.
The prosecutors said the arrest was the result of close cooperation with the prosecutors and security services of Ukraine, who tipped them off and who provided crucial evidence. The case is developing, they said.
Ukraine’s chief prosecutor, Andriy Kostin, said the suspect had been tasked with “gathering and transmitting to the aggressor state information about security at Rzeszów-Jasionka airport” in south-eastern Poland.
The suspect was in detention pending judicial procedures, the two countries’ prosecutors said.
“This case underscores the persistent threat Russia poses not only to Ukraine and Ukrainians but to the entire free world,” Kostin wrote on X. “The Kremlin’s criminal regime … organises and carries out sabotage operations on the territory of other sovereign states.”
Separately, German prosecutors said two German-Russian men had been arrested on suspicion of espionage, one of them accused of agreeing to carry out attacks on potential targets including US military facilities in hopes of sabotaging aid for Ukraine.
The two, identified only as Dieter S and Alexander J, were arrested on Wednesday in the Bavarian city of Bayreuth, Germany’s federal prosecutors said.
Several people, including a Russian-Spanish dual citizen, have been arrested in Poland on allegations of spying for Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Poland has been a staunch supporter of neighbouring Ukraine and Zelenskiy in fending off Russia’s aggression of more than two years.