Two alleged members of Russian private military company the Wagner Group will stand trial in Poland on charges including terrorism. If found guilty, the men, who are both Russian citizens, face up to ten years in prison.
Prosecutors announced on Friday that the pair, who can be named only as Andrei G. and Alex T. under Polish privacy law, had been indicted for crimes including participating in the activities of foreign intelligence and participating in an international armed group aiming at committing terrorist offences.
Prokurator skierował do sądu akt oskarżenia przeciwko dwóm obywatelom Federacji Rosyjskiej działającym w ramach tzw. „Grupy Wagnera”, zarzucając im m. in. branie udziału w działalności obcego wywiadu oraz prowadzenie w Polsce tzw. wojny hybrydowej. 🔽https://t.co/M3CPOnb3z3
— Prokuratura (@PK_GOV_PL) June 21, 2024
The suspects were first detained in August last year by Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW), with the interior minister at the time saying they had been “distributing propaganda materials of the Wagner Group in Kraków and Warsaw”.
Before that, posters encouraging people to join the Wagner Group had appeared in public places in those cities. Shortly after being arrested, the two Russian men were charged and placed in pretrial detention, where they have remained since.
In a statement today, the national prosecutor’s office said that “the defendants recruited Polish citizens and foreigners residing in Poland for mercenary military service prohibited by international law (the PMC Wagner Group)”.
“For this purpose, they put up at least several hundred recruitment stickers that enabled direct contact with other people responsible for recruitment and organisation,” continued the statement.
On the streets of #Poland in public places appeared stickers with the symbols of PMC "#Wagner" and the call to join them.
It is still unknown whether the mercenaries are really trying to recruit Poles, or whether the stickers are distributed by Russian agents for psychological… pic.twitter.com/qAZMtaKLnw
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 12, 2023
Additionally, the pair are accused of working for Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). They were tasked with “conducting the so-called hybrid war, including propaganda activities aimed at destabilising the political situation and causing damage to Poland”.
“Hybrid war” is a term often used by Polish and European authorities to describe a range of non-military tactics used by Russia and its ally Belarus, such as spreading disinformation, carrying out cyberattacks, and orchestrating a migration crisis on Poland’s borders.
In recent months, a number of people suspected of carrying out espionage and sabotage on behalf of Russia have been detained in Poland.
In response to such threats, the Polish government has recently announced increased spending on border fortifications, cybersecurity and the security services.
Poland has charged five people with terrorist offences in relation to a recent arson case.
It is believed to concern the fire that destroyed Warsaw's largest shopping centre this month, which the prime minister said Russia was "likely" involved in https://t.co/JbhwcYMWhM
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) May 28, 2024
The Wagner Group, founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, once a close ally of Vladimir Putin, played a prominent role in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It has also been used as a proxy force by Russia elsewhere, notably in Syria, Libya, Mali and the Central African Republic.
After leading a failed rebellion in Russia itself last year, the Wagner Group relocated some of its forces to Belarus, where its mercenaries became engaged in training exercises with the Belarusian military, including near the border with Poland.
In August last year, Prigozhin died in a plane crash, after which leadership of the Wagner Group was assumed by his son Pavel.
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Main image credit: Łukasz Wantuch/Facebook
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.
