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The authorities in Poland and Germany have arrested not less than 5 of their residents in latest days and accused them of spying for Russia or of providing to assist Moscow commit violence on European soil, together with a “doable assault” on the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.
The arrests underscored fears of the Kremlin’s furtive community within the West and its use of overseas nationals, together with violent criminals and soccer hooligans, to terrify or presumably even kill opponents sheltering overseas.
The Polish National Prosecutor’s Office stated in a press release {that a} Polish citizen, recognized as Pawel Okay., was detained on Wednesday. It stated he had provided to help Russian brokers in a doable plot aimed toward killing Mr. Zelensky.
It gave few particulars, apart from saying he had “declared his readiness to behave for the army intelligence of the Russian Federation and established contacts with residents of the Russian Federation straight concerned within the conflict in Ukraine.”
Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland stated on Friday that the police had additionally arrested two Polish residents for attacking a prime aide to the Russian opposition campaigner Aleksei A. Navalny outdoors the aide’s residence in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, final month with a hammer. The Polish chief stated a citizen of Belarus, who allegedly had ordered up the assault on Moscow’s behalf, had additionally been apprehended. Mr. Navalny died in Russian jail in February.
“There will likely be no leniency for collaborators with the Russian companies,” Mr. Tusk stated in his assertion on Friday. He vowed to stamp out “each betrayal and try at destabilization.”
The Lithuanian prosecutor basic’s workplace stated in a press release that the 2 Poles suspected of assaulting Mr. Navalny’s aide, Leonid Volkov, on March 12 had been detained in Warsaw on April 3. The assertion didn’t point out a Belarusian.
Poland’s nationwide prosecutor’s workplace stated that the person, named Pawel Okay., had been given duties that “included gathering and offering info” about Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport, a Polish airfield close to the border with Ukraine by means of which Mr. Zelensky typically travels on his journeys overseas.
Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, declined to remark Friday throughout a name with reporters on the doable plot to assassinate Mr. Zelensky.
The airport, which is protected by Patriot missiles operated by U.S. army personnel, serves as an vital transport hub for Western weapons destined for Ukraine.
The Ukrainian intelligence service stated in a press release that it had given info to the Polish authorities in regards to the particular person who was arrested. It added that his plan had been to gather and switch info to Russian army intelligence in regards to the airport with a purpose to “assist the Russian particular companies plan a doable assassination try on the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky throughout his keep in Poland.”
The arrests in Poland got here because the German authorities apprehended two twin residents of Germany and Russia on suspicion of spying for Moscow and plotting to sabotage assist to Ukraine by blowing up Western army infrastructure.
The string of arrests comes as many European officers fear in regards to the extent to which Moscow has infiltrated international locations within the European Union with spies and assassins, and has discovered an accessible community of males for rent amongst organized crime and extremist teams, prepared to hold out assaults and acts of intimidation towards the Kremlin’s foes.
Mr. Tusk stated the 2 Polish males who had attacked Mr. Volkov with a hammer ran in “extremely” circles, a time period for fanatical soccer followers who’re infamous for generally partaking in violence or associating with extremist right-wing political causes.
Mr. Volkov thanked the Polish and Lithuanian authorities for his or her work on his case in a submit Friday on the social media platform X. “It is of monumental significance to research and to reveal all of the chain-of-command from Putin to the man with the hammer,” he stated.
The Insider, a Russia-focused investigative outlet, just lately recognized a person who was threatening a vocal anti-Kremlin Russian economist and his spouse in Buenos Aires as a Polish citizen and shared that info with the Polish authorities, who subsequently arrested him, the outlet stated in a report on Friday.
In the course of the investigation, the Polish authorities found that the person’s handler was additionally related to the lads who arrived in Lithuania final month to assault Mr. Volkov, The Insider reported.
The February killing of a Russian helicopter pilot in a seaside city in Spain months after his high-profile defection to Ukraine final summer time additionally raised the specter of retribution on European soil towards the Kremlin’s enemies. The perpetrators, nonetheless unknown, shot him six instances in a parking storage earlier than operating over his physique with a automotive.
Last 12 months, the authorities in Britain arrested 5 residents of Bulgaria and accused them of finishing up surveillance and information-gathering actions for Russian intelligence. The British authorities charged a sixth Bulgarian nationwide in reference to the actions in February.
Tomas Dapkus contributed reporting from Vilnius, Lithuania, and Alina Lobzina from Berlin.
