Poland charges Belarusian with planning warehouse sabotage
PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — Agents from Poland’s Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego — or Internal Security Agency (Government of Poland photo)
WARSAW - Polish prosecutors have charged a Belarusian citizen with planning to set fire to a warehouse in eastern Poland on behalf of foreign intelligence, a spokesperson said on Monday.
The statement did not name the foreign power. Poland says its role as an aid hub for neighbouring Ukraine has made it a target for Russian and Belarusian secret services. Russia and Belarus have regularly rejected such allegations.
Prosecutors suspected the 27-year-old man, Vitalij S, "collected data about a warehouse facility in the Lublin Voivodeship in July 2025, filmed and photographed it, and then passed this material on to representatives of foreign intelligence," a spokesperson said.
He was charged with "acting for the benefit of foreign intelligence and preparing to undertake sabotage and diversionary activities consisting of setting fire to a warehouse facility," the spokesperson added.
Prosecutors said the man, identified only by his first name and first initial of his surname in line with Polish privacy law, had admitted to the charges. The offence was punishable with up to eight years in prison, they added.
The Belarusian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Anna Koper; Editing by Andrew Heavens // REUTERS)
