Poland thwarted a network of “novice” operatives established by Russia within its borders, a group assigned with missions including sabotage, assassination, and arson, as reported by the Washington Post on Friday (August 18).
The US-based newspaper revealed that the Russian intelligence agency, GRU, orchestrated the entire operation, assigning menial tasks like distributing fliers or displaying signs in public spaces.
These enigmatic job opportunities began surfacing on Russian-language Telegram channels in Poland earlier this year and were orchestrated by Russia.
Recruits were compensated using cryptocurrencies and transfers from untraceable bank accounts, officials disclosed. Although the compensation was modest, it presented a rapid source of income for refugees from eastern Ukraine.
In subsequent weeks, the recruits were directed to survey Polish seaports, install cameras along railways, and conceal tracking devices in military cargo, as informed by Polish investigators to the newspaper.
However, in March, new orders emerged that were particularly alarming: to derail trains transporting weaponry to Ukraine.
Polish authorities contended that “the thwarted operation presented the most serious Russian threat on NATO soil since Moscow initiated its invasion of Ukraine last year.”
Polish intelligence officers indicated that the main incentive for the recruits was financial gain, rather than ideological motivation.
“Russia’s aim was to disrupt a crucial weapons route through Poland, responsible for over 80 percent of the military equipment supplied to Ukraine—a significant flow that has shifted the course of the conflict and which Russia seemed powerless to halt, according to Polish and Western security officials,” reported the Washington Post.
Following the dismantling of the network earlier this year, Poland’s security services amassed evidence suggesting that Russia had plotted other potentially lethal activities within Poland.
An anonymous representative from Poland’s domestic security service (ABW) revealed to the newspaper that Russian spy agencies continue to be active within Poland. He asserted that recruits were also assigned tasks involving arson and an assassination, though he refrained from discussing the specific targets.
“While this particular threat has been neutralized, the broader menace persists,” he added.
The Washington Post based its article on interviews with over a dozen security officials in Poland, Ukraine, and the United States. Additionally, it drew information from documents, the social media accounts of suspects, and conversations with relatives and associates of those apprehended.
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