Poland says more than 30 suspects face trial over pro-Russian sabotage

Polish authorities have detained 32 people since the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine for allegedly working with Russian intelligence to carry out sabotage and arson attacks on local infrastructure, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Tuesday.

The suspects — including Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Colombian nationals — were allegedly recruited to conduct attacks aimed at destabilizing the country, Tusk said. One person has already been convicted, while others remain in custody awaiting trial.

“We are indeed effective in taking action against those responsible for sabotage,” Tusk told reporters at a press conference. “Anyone who destabilizes the Polish state or attempts to destabilize the situation on the borders is directly or indirectly aiding Russian services, and therefore we will act ruthlessly.”

The announcement followed the arrest of a 27-year-old Colombian man accused of setting fire to two construction supply depots in Warsaw and Radom in May 2024. According to Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW), the attacks were carried out under orders from Russian intelligence as part of a broader hybrid warfare campaign.

The suspect, who was charged with acting on behalf of foreign intelligence and committing terrorist acts, later traveled to the Czech Republic, where he was arrested for setting fire to a bus depot and planning an attack on a shopping mall. A Czech court sentenced him in June to eight years in prison after he pleaded guilty.

Authorities believe the Colombian man was part of a broader Russian operation to recruit individuals of Latin American origin — particularly those with military experience — via the Telegram messaging app. Recruits were allegedly tasked with scouting targets, setting fires and filming the destruction for use in Russian state-backed disinformation campaigns.

One such campaign falsely claimed that a logistics center in Radom used to store military aid for Ukraine had been destroyed in the fire.

Poland has increasingly become a target of what officials describe as Russian hybrid warfare, including sabotage, espionage and disinformation efforts. Earlier this year, Warsaw shut down the Russian consulate in Kraków after linking Russian intelligence to a 2023 fire that destroyed a major shopping center in the capital.

In January, Tusk accused Moscow of planning “air terror” attacks against airlines, including possible sabotage operations in Poland. Earlier this month, Polish security services launched an investigation into whether a brief outage in the country’s air traffic control system was caused by sabotage.