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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.
Polish police have launched a special operation to secure the area along the border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad after receiving information that acts of sabotage may take place there in the coming days.
The operation – which has involved sending additional officers, including counter-terrorism forces, to the northeastern Podlasie and Warmia-Masuria provinces – was first reported by broadcaster RMF and confirmed by the national police chief, Marek Boroń.
“Police are putting security measures in place around the Kaliningrad region in anticipation of possible incidents that could lead to acts of sabotage,” he told RMF. “This is based on information we also have from external security services.”
“We are responsible for ensuring the safety of the citizens living there, as well as for facilities and any situations that may pose a threat to society,” he added, noting that the police were coordinating their operation with the army, border guard and security services.
RMF reports, based on unnamed sources, that Poland’s Military Intelligence Service (SWW) and agencies from unnamed allied countries last week issued a warning that sabotage activities could take place on the Polish-Russian border, potentially including border violations by armed groups.
In a separate statement, the national police headquarters told RMF that the ongoing operation is “directly related to the situation taking place in our country today, that is, acts of sabotage…and the actions of eastern services”.
That was a reference to the activities of Russia and its ally Belarus, which have in recent years carried out a series of acts of sabotage and other so-called “hybrid actions” against Poland and other countries in the region.
A spokeswoman for the police headquarters, Katarzyna Nowak, told broadcaster TVN that they were unable to provide any further information on the nature of the operation as the details are confidential.
W Komendzie Głównej Policji powstał sztab operacji specjalnej prowadzonej w Warmińsko-Mazurskiem i na Podlasiu przez policję przy współpracy wojska, straży granicznej i służb specjalnych – mówi dziennikarzowi RMF FM Krzysztofowi Zasadzie szef KGP Marek Boroń. Chodzi o działania…
— Fakty RMF FM (@RMF24pl) November 2, 2026
On Thursday last week, the deputy police commander, Tomasz Michułka, issued an order for officers to be on “full readiness” between 2 and 8 November due to the “operational situation across the country”.
Some had interpreted that order as related to the situation around the Constitutional Tribunal (TK) in Warsaw, where riot police were called in on Friday to secure the court amid protests against an attempt by a group of government-backed judges to take control of the TK.
However, on Friday night, the police issued a statement “emphatically denying” that the order had anything to do with the situation at the TK. They said that it was, in fact, “related to the current threats regarding acts of sabotage and subversion”.
The following day, Boroń himself wrote to police officers confirming that Thursday’s order had been issued in response to “attempts to destabilise our country by foreign intelligence services from the east”.
List Komendanta Głównego Policji do funkcjonariuszy pic.twitter.com/3jTMdme1bz
— Polska Policja 🇵🇱 (@PolskaPolicja) November 1, 2026
Earlier this year, a report by the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism identified Poland as the “primary focus” of Russia’s sabotage operations in Europe. Those operations have included an arson attack that destroyed Warsaw’s largest shopping centre and an attempt to derail a train.
In September this year, a Russian military helicopter crossed the border from Kaliningrad and remained in Polish airspace for around 42 seconds before returning.
In July, a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile carrying a significant explosive payload entered Polish airspace from Ukraine before landing in a field in eastern Poland.
The Polish government has regularly warned in recent months that Moscow is planning further provocations against eastern NATO member states, including potential border violations.
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: Policja Lubuska (under CC BY-SA 4.0)
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.
