Polish authorities are tightening security measures at the main transit hub for foreign military aid to Ukraine due to fears of sabotage by Russia.
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This was stated by Minister of Internal Affairs Tomas Semoniak, reports RBC-Ukraine with reference to his interview with Bloomberg.
Semoniak confirmed that measures are being taken to increase security around the Rzeszów-Jasenko airport. Located less than 100 km from the border with Ukraine, this center processes up to 90% of Western equipment destined for the front line. It also became the main stopping point for foreign officials visiting Kyiv.
“We faced a foreign state that is conducting hostile and, to put it in military language, dynamic actions on the territory of Poland,” Semoniak said in an interview in Warsaw, without clarifying the security measures at the airport. – There was nothing like this before.”
A minister said Poland was facing an unprecedented level of foreign interference after Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced as many as 12 people had been detained as part of a crackdown on suspected sabotage from Russia. These include arson, attempted arson, and physical attacks.
The role of the Rzeszów-Jasenko airport in the Kremlin-backed operation became known in April. Prosecutors announced that they had arrested a suspected man who is accused of facilitating a conspiracy to assassinate President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi. As part of the plan, the man was allegedly ready to gather information about airport security.
Sabotage on the territory of Poland
As part of a Polish investigation, authorities are investigating the Kremlin's role in a fire that burned down a commercial building earlier this month. center in Warsaw. Another case involved an alleged attempt to set fire to a paint factory in the western city of Wroclaw.
Semoniak said the recent actions were ordered by Russia's GRU military intelligence, adding that similar methods are being used across Europe. They usually involve the recruitment of so-called “disposable agents”, such as football hooligans or organized crime groups, who are willing to carry out such acts for money, he said.
The minister called it a “very serious situation”. , as Russian services were now operating on foreign territory much more deliberately.
“We are no longer talking about agents of influence or any online activity,” Semenyak said. “These are people who are ready to come and set fire.”