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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.
Six men – three of them Polish and three Belarusian – have been indicted by prosecutors in Poland on suspicion of being part of a criminal group that carried out arson on behalf of a foreign intelligence agency.
The National Prosecutor’s Office announced the indictments on Wednesday, naming the Polish suspects only as Kamil K., Dawid P. and Łukasz K. and the Belarusians as Stepan K. (pictured above), Andrei B., Yaraslau S., in accordance with Polish privacy law.
They are accused of being behind a fire at a restaurant in Gdynia in 2023 that resulted in 3 million zloty (€705,000) worth of damage and the burning of a storage facility in Marki near Warsaw in 2024. They also allegedly attempted to burn down a warehouse in Gdańsk in 2024.
Eliminujemy ruską agenturę. Brawo @TomaszSiemoniak! https://t.co/lgeGSRYh82
— Michał Szczerba (@MichalSzczerba) August 13, 2025
Prosecutors say that the arson attacks were carried out “on behalf of foreign intelligence” with the “aim of inciting social unrest and creating a sense of the state authorities’ helplessness”.
They do not say which country or countries were behind them, but the Polish authorities have regularly blamed Russia for such acts of sabotage in Poland and other European countries.
One of the suspects, Stepan K., was separately charged earlier this year with setting fire to a large retail store in Warsaw on behalf of Russia.
Prosecutors also report that their investigation into the gang was launched thanks to evidence gathered while investigating a Ukrainian man, Serhiy S., who was recently sentenced to prison for carrying out acts of sabotage on behalf of Russia.
The six men are accused of operating as an organised criminal group. But each has been indicted on varying counts relating not only to the arson attacks but also to drug and arms trafficking. Those accused of carrying out arson on behalf of Russia face ten years to life in prison if found guilty.
Two of the men – Stepan K. and Dawid P. – have pleaded not guilty while the others have admitted to some or all of the charges against them. Three of the men – Stepan K., Yaraslau S. and Łukasz K. – are being held in pretrial detention.
Russia has been accused of hiring local operators in Poland – often Ukrainian and Belarusian immigrants – to carry out sabotage and espionage operations.
In May, two Ukrainians were charged over their alleged involvement in a 2024 arson attack carried out on behalf of Russia that resulted in the destruction of Warsaw’s largest shopping centre. In response, Poland has closed Russia’s consulates in Poznań and Kraków.
Poland has announced charges against two Ukrainians over their alleged involvement in an arson attack on behalf of Russia that destroyed Warsaw’s largest shopping centre.
Russia has dismissed the accusations as “baseless” and motivated by “Russophobia” https://t.co/nduDaNJeLd
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) May 12, 2025
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: Komenda Stołeczna Policji (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)
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.
