A Polish national has been arrested on suspicion of conspiring with the Russian secret service to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The suspect, named only as Paweł K., was detained in Poland on Thursday following a joint investigation by the Polish and Ukrainian intelligence agencies.
Poland’s public prosecutor said the investigation unearthed evidence that the man had communicated with Russian individuals directly involved in the war in Ukraine and had offered to pass on information about the defenses of Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport in eastern Poland to assist in an assassination of the Ukrainian president during his next visit to the country.
“His tasks included collecting and providing the military intelligence of the Russian Federation with information on the security of the Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport. This was, among other things, to help the Russian special services plan a possible attack on the life of the head of a foreign state, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenksy,” said Anna Adamiak, the spokeswoman for Poland’s Prosecutor General.
She further confirmed the suspect had been charged with “reporting readiness to act for foreign intelligence against the Republic of Poland,” otherwise known as espionage, a crime punishable in Poland by up to eight years in prison.
Ukraine’s internal security agency, the SBU, confirmed its involvement in the investigation “to expose a Russian agent” who had offered his services to help assassinate Zelensky.
“The SBU is grateful to its partners for effective cooperation in countering Russian crimes in Ukraine and abroad,” it wrote in a statement on Telegram.
“Thanks to successful actions and prompt exchange of information between the countries, it was possible to identify and detain a recruited agent of the Russian special services on the territory of Poland,” it added.
The arrest warrant was signed by the District Court in Warsaw on Thursday, which sanctioned the suspect’s pre-trial detention.
Investigations led by the Internal Security Agency under the supervision of the National Prosecutor’s Office of Poland are ongoing.
