WARSAW — Poland’s security service has detained six people accused of working for Russian intelligence and illegally sending military components to Russia, the Internal Security Agency (ABW) said on Thursday.
Four of the six have been charged with espionage. A court has ordered them kept in jail for three months while prosecutors prepare the case — a step called remand. The other two remain free under court-ordered restrictions.
The six are five Polish citizens aged 25 to 52 and a 37-year-old Russian woman, according to Tomasz Siemoniak, the minister who oversees Poland’s security services. The Russian woman is among the four charged with espionage.
What prosecutors say happened
The ABW said the group acted for Russia’s special services as part of an organized criminal group. Prosecutors say the group illegally supplied Russia with large amounts of military components, including shell casings and projectiles — parts used to make ammunition and weapons.
According to prosecutors, the scheme ran from June 2023 to December 2025, and the components bought and taken into Russia were worth more than 2 million Polish zloty (about €455,000). Investigators say the group worked across Poland, Lithuania and Russia, carried the goods across the Polish border into Russia’s Kaliningrad region in vehicles fitted with hidden compartments, and that Polish border officers stopped some of the shipments.
Officers made the arrests during searches of 21 locations between October 21 and November 2 in three regions: Warmian-Masurian and Pomeranian in the north, and Greater Poland in the west.
All six face charges of taking part in an organized criminal group, and of breaking Poland’s rules on selling goods and technology of strategic importance — items whose export is controlled because they matter for national defence and international security. Four also face espionage charges.
The case is supervised by the Podlaskie branch, based in Białystok, of the National Prosecutor’s Office department that handles organized crime and corruption, with ABW officers from Olsztyn doing the field work. The agency said the investigation is still developing.
The wider picture
“Russia is subject to a strict embargo in this area, and this operation was designed to circumvent it,” Siemoniak told reporters. He said nearly 100 people have been charged in espionage and sabotage investigations in Poland since the start of 2024.
The ABW said activity of this kind could strengthen Russia’s arms industry and its military, and is a serious threat to Poland’s security.
Poland, a member of NATO and the European Union on the alliance’s eastern flank, is the main transit route for Western military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. It has repeatedly accused Russia of sabotage since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Reuters asked the Russian Embassy in Warsaw for comment; it did not immediately respond. The Kremlin has consistently denied running sabotage operations in NATO countries. No statement from the six suspects or their lawyers has been reported.
The charges are allegations. None of the six has been convicted, and prosecutors will have to prove the case in court.
