Poland jails man for offering to spy for Russia in potential plot against Zelenskyy

ISTANBUL

A Polish court on Tuesday sentenced a man to prison for declaring his willingness to spy for Russia and pass on information that could have aided a potential assassination plot against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"A 50-year-old resident of Hrubieszow reported his readiness to act on behalf of foreign intelligence against Poland. Pawel K. expressed his willingness to join the structures of Russian military intelligence and carry out intelligence tasks," Jacek Dobrzynski, spokesperson for the minister overseeing the country’s security and intelligence agencies, wrote on US social media company X.

Dobrzynski said the intelligence tasks included passing information about the Rzeszow – Jasionka Airport near the Polish-Ukrainian border, which "could have constituted assistance in planning an attack on the life of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy."

A district court in southeastern Poland sentenced the suspect to three years and six months in prison.

Dobrzynski added that the man also "expressed readiness" to join Russia's Wagner Group and a military unit of Moscow's foreign intelligence agency.