Russia paid operatives to paint anti-government graffiti in Poland, finds report

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Russian intelligence services paid individuals in Poland to carry out tasks including spray-painting vulgar slogans attacking the then ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and President Andrzej Duda, a journalistic investigation has found.

Broadcaster TVN found that thousands of slogans – such as “Jebać PiS” (“Fuck PiS”), “Duda do dupy” (“Duda sucks”) and “NATO go home” – were painted in Polish cities.

Other tasks the recruits were commissioned to carry out included observing military facilities and transports, installing cameras near key infrastructure, and distributing anti-war leaflets.

Unlike with traditional espionage activities, recruits were not trained agents sent from Russia. They were existing immigrants and refugees in Poland from neighbouring eastern countries who were hired through online messaging service Telegram and paid small amounts in cryptocurrency to carry out tasks.

Recruits were, for example, offered $7 per graffiti inscription, reports TVN, whose findings are based on court files relating to cases in which 16 people have already been convicted of carrying out actions on behalf of Russia.

Participants were required to submit a short video or photos as proof of completing their assignments. In some cases, they were later asked to conduct sabotage actions, such as attempting to derail a train.

“We have no doubt that this leads back to Russia,” said Piotr Łopatyński of the National Prosecutor’s Office, a sentiment echoed by Jacek Dobrzyński, spokesman for Poland’s security services.

That Russia has been recruiting people in Poland to carry out espionage and sabotage tasks was already known. A number of court cases have revealed such activities.

However, the fact that Russia used its recruits to paint political slogans had not been previously reported, and the revelation sparked anger among politicians from PiS, which lost power in December 2023 and is now in opposition.

“Russian intelligence paid for personal attacks on the president of Poland as well as for promoting the slogan ‘f…ck PiS’,” wrote Stanisław Żaryn, who served as spokesman for the security services under the PiS government and is now an advisor to PiS-aligned President Duda.

Żaryn claimed that this “vulgar message…was and is a very important part of the political activities of the circles that today form the government”.

The term “Jebać PiS” became one of the main slogans of the mass demonstrations against the PiS government that emerged in late 2020 in response to the introduction of a near-total ban on abortion.

Paweł Jabłoński, a former deputy foreign minister in the PiS government, this week compiled a thread on X listing a dozen instances in which leading politicians from the current ruling coalition and journalists referenced the slogan “Jebać PiS” (sometimes presented in the commonly used form “***** ***”).

Most examples, though not all, were from 2021 whereas the incidents uncovered by TVN in its report occurred after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Parliamentary elections took place in October 2023 at which PiS lost its parliamentary majority.

TVN’s investigation found that recruits were also paid $5 per anti-war leaflet distributed in Polish cities and at least $300 for installing surveillance cameras. One convicted recruit claimed he was offered $10,000 to derail a train but declined.

The Internal Security Agency (ABW) dismantled the group after discovering surveillance cameras – powered by solar panels and connected via wireless internet – installed along railway tracks and near Jasionka airport, a key hub for military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

A receipt found near one of the cameras helped police identify two Ukrainian nationals, 22-year-old Maxim Leha and 20-year-old Artem Averba, as key suspects. They became the main defendants in a case in which 16 individuals, mostly Ukrainians, were eventually convicted.

Leha, sentenced to six years in prison, cooperated with investigators and admitted financial motives for his involvement. In an interrogation recording published by TVN24, he described himself as “actually a stupid guy” and “thick as a plank”.

Poland has since tightened its laws. Disseminating disinformation now carries a prison sentence of up to eight years, while acts of sabotage are punishable by at least ten years in prison.

Przemysław Nowak, a spokesperson for the national prosecutor’s office, told TVN24 that Poland is “currently investigating 27 espionage cases”, adding that most have not been made public.

Last week, a Ukrainian man was sentenced to eight years in prison for preparing to carry out acts of sabotage on behalf of Russia, including planning arson attacks on various buildings in Wrocław.

Earlier this month, two Russian men were sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for placing recruitment posters for Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group in Polish cities.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: TVN24 report “Rabota w Polsze” (screenshot)

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.