WP: Russian special services recruited Ukrainian refugees in Poland and instructed them to put up anti-Ukrainian banners and monitor the movements of equipment

Russian intelligence services recruited Ukrainian refugees in Poland. As writes the Washington Post , citing high-ranking counterintelligence officials in Poland, Ukraine and the United States, those recruited for money performed various tasks.

During the year, the Polish Internal Security Agency ( ABW ) reported the arrest of 16 suspected spies for Russia. interlocutors Washington Post clarify that among them are 12 citizens of Ukraine, three Belarusians and one Russian.

According to the newspaper, Russian military intelligence officers recruited them, as a rule, through popular Telegram channels. At first they were given simple tasks - to draw graffiti or paste an anti-Ukrainian banner for a few dollars. Thus, interlocutors told the Washington Post, Russian intelligence officers checked whether those recruited were ready for more complex assignments.

The tasks of the next level are the installation of video cameras along the route of trains with equipment and weapons for the Ukrainian army, as well as the collection of information about critical infrastructure in the border regions of Poland. In March, Polish counterintelligence reported that the detainees were planning to blow up railway tracks in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship of the country.

In addition, Washington Post interlocutors at ABW said that those recruited were instructed to set fires and commit murders. The newspaper's sources did not specify the details of this.

interlocutors Washington Post report that most of the Ukrainians suspected of espionage come from the eastern regions of the country, “traditionally closely associated with Moscow.” It is noted that they decided to cooperate with Russian intelligence services not for ideological reasons, but for the sake of “quick money.”

The newspaper's sources do not name the suspected spies. In March, the Belarusian group “CyberPartisans” reported that the names of the Belarusians detained by the Polish authorities were Maria Medvedeva, Vladislav Posmityukha and Nikolai Moskalenko. In August, was detained. a fourth Belarusian citizen named Mikhail A.

The suspected Russian spy is probably named Maxim Sergeev . He played for the hockey club Zagłębie Sosnowiec from the city of Sosnowiec in the Silesian Voivodeship.