Polish authorities detained a Russian national on August 7 in connection with an alleged plot to kill a dual Ukrainian-American citizen in Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced Thursday. Tusk described the suspect as having been recruited by Russian intelligence services and said the targeted individual was, in his words, 'uncomfortable for the Putin regime.' The operation was carried out in cooperation with U.S. services, according to Tomasz Siemoniak, Poland's minister overseeing intelligence services.
Poland arrests Russian national in alleged Moscow-directed plot to kill Ukrainian-American in Warsaw
Polish authorities detained a Russian national on August 7 in connection with an alleged plot to kill a dual Ukrainian-American citizen in Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced Thursday. Tusk described the suspect as having been recruited by Russian intelligence services and said the targeted individual was, in his words, 'uncomfortable for the Putin regime.' The operation was carried out in cooperation with U.S. services, according to Tomasz Siemoniak, Poland's minister overseeing intelligence services.
Tusk stated that it was the first time 'someone on the order of Russia' sought to attack a U.S. citizen on the territory of another NATO country. He credited Poland's Internal Security Agency and police with preventing what he described as an execution 'at the last minute.'
According to The Independent, the suspect will be held in custody for three months, as announced by Warsaw police. Fox News reported that Tusk described the services' action as 'truly brilliant.'
Siemoniak confirmed that U.S. services participated in the operation, though neither source provided further operational details. The U.S. State Department, according to The Independent, said it was aware of the reports but had no additional information to offer. Fox News reported that it reached out to the State Department for comment without indicating a response had been received.
Tusk said Poland and others must be prepared to counter what he characterized as an ongoing threat, adding: 'We must assume that the Putin regime will try to eliminate people who are inconvenient for various reasons, in various places around the world.'
Western officials have previously linked Russia to approximately 200 acts of sabotage, arson, and other disruption across Europe since the start of the war in Ukraine, according to an Associated Press mapping exercise cited by both sources. Russian President Vladimir Putin denied to the AP that Russia is waging a sabotage campaign against Europe — Fox News places this denial in May, while The Independent attributes it to June.
In June, a Russian artist critical of Putin, identified by The Independent as Robert Kuzovkov, also known by the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, was shot and killed near his home in eastern Poland. Tusk said the killing bore the hallmarks of a political assassination and suggested Russian involvement, though Polish officials have not formally attributed it to Moscow.
Among other disrupted plots cited by both sources: French officials foiled an alleged plan to kill Vladimir Osechkin, a Russian exile working to help military defectors; Lithuanian authorities disrupted two plots targeting a Lithuanian supporter of Ukraine and a Russian activist; and German authorities broke up plots against the head of a German weapons company supplying Ukraine and a Ukrainian military official.
According to The Independent, Polish authorities also arrested a man in 2024 in what they described as a plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and a Russian helicopter pilot who defected was killed in Spain that same year, with Russian operatives identified as the prime suspects. The Independent also cited historical cases, including the 2006 killing of Alexander Litvinenko in London and the 2018 attempted killing of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, both attributed by the UK to Russia, as well as the 2019 killing of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin, which German authorities attributed to Russian organization.
A senior European intelligence official was quoted by The Independent as previously telling the AP: 'This campaign is not by accident or chance. There is political authorization.'
Where sources differ
- The two sources differ on when Putin denied to the AP that Russia is waging a sabotage campaign against Europe: Fox News places the denial in May, while The Independent attributes it to June.
- The identity and further personal details of the arrested Russian suspect have not been publicly disclosed by any source.
- The identity of the Ukrainian-American target has not been revealed, nor have details about why the individual was allegedly considered a threat by Russia.
- The specific role and nature of U.S. intelligence cooperation in the operation has not been detailed.
- No formal Russian government response to the specific Warsaw plot allegation has been provided.
- It is not established whether any charges have been filed against the suspect beyond the announced three-month detention.
- The sources do not clarify what specific actions or activities made the targeted individual 'inconvenient' to the Putin regime.
- Fox News — original — by Greg Norman-Diamond
- The Independent — by Claudia Ciobanu