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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.
Poland has detained and charged six people – four of them Belarusian and two Polish – with attempting to smuggle equipment to Russia that could be used in the production of combat drones. If found guilty of violating Poland’s sanctions law, they will be jailed for at least three years.
On Wednesday, Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) and National Prosecutor’s Office (PK) announced that they had last week detained the six suspects, all of whom were residing in Poland, during a coordinated series of raids.
The suspects are accused of attempting to smuggle to Russia, via Belarus, a device used to automate the production of integrated circuits that can be used, among other things, for the assembly of combat drones.
Prosecutors note that the National Revenue Administration (KAS), Poland’s tax and customs administration agency, initially thwarted the attempt to smuggle the device. That in turn “contributed to the disruption of potential deliveries of military equipment to Russian troops operating in eastern Ukraine”.
Prokurator z łódzkiego wydziału PZ PK przedstawił 6 osobom, w tym 4 obywatelom Białorusi, zarzuty usiłowania przemytu do Rosji urządzeń służących do automatyzacji produkcji układów scalonych, które mogły być wykorzystane przy montażu dronów bojowych. ⬇️https://t.co/VpODdi4lKU
— Prokuratura (@PK_GOV_PL) February 25, 2026
The six suspects were, on the day of their arrest, charged with a variety of crimes, including under Poland’s law, passed in April 2022 in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion, punishing those who support the aggression against Ukraine.
The legislation, which was also intended to protect Poland’s own national security, includes a ban on the export of strategically important equipment that could be used in the production of military technology. Anyone guilty of doing so receives a jail sentence of at least three years.
The same law was used earlier this month to charge five people with smuggling cigarettes from Belarus to Poland using weather balloons. Prosecutors say that the gang’s actions helped support Russia’s aggression against Ukraine by providing income to Belarus, which is an ally of Moscow.
Poland has charged five people for smuggling cigarettes from Belarus using weather balloons.
Prosecutors say the gang’s actions, as well as costing Poland 2 million zloty in lost taxes, helped support Russia’s war in Ukraine by providing income to Belarus https://t.co/x0DVsBWWey
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) February 6, 2026
Among the six suspects detained last week, three have been placed in court-ordered pretrial detention, which is often done if someone is believed to be a security threat or flight risk. The other three have been released on bail, but are banned from leaving the country and will be under police supervision.
Russia has used drones extensively in Ukraine, both for military purposes but also in attacks on civilian targets, such as residential buildings and energy infrastructure.
On one night in September last year, around 20 Russian drones entered Polish airspace in an unprecedented violation. Some were shot down by Polish and allied NATO forces, while others hit the ground, though did not cause any casualties.
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: National Police of Ukraine/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY 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.
