there Poland targets 45 Russian citizens suspected of being in the country under diplomatic cover espionage. This was announced by Stanislaw Zaryn, spokesman for the Minister of the Coordinator of Special Services. Urgent expulsion from the country has been requested for those on the list prepared by the Internal Security Agency.
According to the reconstructions of the Polish authorities, the Russian citizens on the list acted in diplomatic circles and in every respect worked on behalf of the secret service Kremlin. On Tuesday, the Russian ambassador to Poland was called to the Foreign Ministry to analyze the situation and news is expected by mail, government spokesman Piotr Muller confirmed.
When asked by the local press, Stanislav Zaryn emphasized that “the Russian secret services are carrying out the offensive with force and are aggressively acting against Poland”. An act intended to threaten the interests and safety of Warsaw, the speaker’s analysis: a real threat to the stability of the country and international partners. A Kremlin intelligence officer also appears in the list compiled by the authorities.
A remarkable update in the crucial hours of the crisis in Ukraine coming a few days later the arrest of a Russian citizen in Warsaw accused of conducting espionage activities on behalf of Russia’s external intelligence service. The man, who has been in custody for three months, worked in one of the government offices in Warsaw and is said to have copied data and passed it on to SVR agents. “The material collected by the Internal Security Agency indicates that this man acted on behalf of foreign intelligence services,” reported the portal Interia Wydarzenia in a comment by Stanislaw Zaryn: “The investigation of the case is underway, we are closing further actions not from.” .
The answer of Russia. “There will be a reaction” to the expulsion of the 45 diplomats from the Federal Ministry. Poland: the words of the Russian ambassador in Warsaw, Sergey Andreyev, after being summoned to the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Kremlin man stressed that there would be a principle of reciprocity and that Polish diplomats present in Moscow would be expelled. Andreyev added that the country led by Mateusz Morawiecki “will not be ready to replace expelled diplomats”.
The position of Minsk. The Belarusian authorities have announced the expulsion of several Ukrainian diplomats. The closure of the consulate general in Brest is expected: “The Ukrainian embassy will continue to work in Belarus in the 1 + 4 format, that is, the ambassador and four employees,” confirms the spokesman for the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Anatoly Glaz.