Poland detains Polish-Ukrainian military reservist on suspicion of espionage

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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.

A member of Poland’s military reserve force has been detained for alleged espionage.

On Monday afternoon, following media reports of the arrest, a spokesman for the military police confirmed that they had detained a 31-year-old man of Polish and Ukrainian citizenship, who holds the rank of senior private reserve.

The suspect, who had at the time been undertaking a course at the Military Medical Academy (WAM) in Łódź, is being held on suspicion of declaring readiness to act for the benefit of a foreign intelligence service against Poland. That crime is punishable by up to eight years in prison.

The Polish authorities have not revealed which foreign intelligence service the suspect – who has been placed in detention for three months – is believed to be associated with.

Speaking later to reporters, deputy defence minister Cezary Tomczyk said that the man had “clearly shown himself to be someone who is conducting reconnaissance of certain types of military installations belonging to the Polish armed forces”. He also revealed that the suspect had recently obtained Polish citizenship.

While the authorities have not released further information, Rzeczpospolita, a leading newspaper, reported earlier on Monday that the suspect, whom it named as Vasiliy, had been found in possession of several different phones, documents, and a large amount of money and gold.

Poland has recently seen a number of high-profile cases of individuals charged – and in some cases convicted – of spying on behalf of Russia and Belarus.

Poland’s security services recently revealed that the number of espionage cases they launched last year was more than double the figure for 2024. Over those two years combined, there were more investigations than in the previous three decades.

This month, a former Polish soldier was sentenced to five and a half years for spying on behalf of Russia. The tasks assigned to him included reconnaissance of Rzeszów-Jasionka airport as part of a possible plan to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky while he travelled through Poland.

In July, a Russian married couple who had been studying in Poland were jailed for spying on behalf of Moscow and involvement in a plot to send a parcel bomb.

In April, prosecutors charged a soldier from Poland’s Territorial Defence Force (WOT) with seeking to spy on behalf of Russia. The following month, three Polish citizens were charged with working on behalf of Russian intelligence to spread disinformation and conduct reconnaissance of NATO troops.

In December last year, a Russian national was charged with running an espionage and sabotage network in Poland on behalf of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). The agents whom he oversaw were mainly Ukrainians and Belarusians, as have been many others convicted of conducting Russian hybrid activities in Poland.

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: Wydział Prewencji Zagrożeń CAT ABW (under CC BY-SA 4.0)

Daniel Tilles

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.