Poland jails Russian hockey player for espionage

Russian hockey player Maxim Sergeyev, who played for the club «Zagłębie Sosnowiec», was sentenced to two years and 11 months in prison on charges of espionage. This is reported by L’Equipe.

The 21-year-old hockey player was detained in June 2023 and was in custody until sentencing. He pleaded guilty. If Sergeev had not done so, he would have faced up to 10 years in prison.

The defender played only five matches for the club «Zagłębie Sosnowiec». Most of the time he played in the youth team.

It is noted that the FSB recruited the athlete via Telegram. Initially, Sergeev was supposed to publish «political content» on social networks. In particular, he was instructed to write a post stating that the war in Ukraine «does not concern the Polish people», for which he received a small payment in cryptocurrency.

Sergeyev was then given the task of finding and photographing strategic objects related to the Polish army or NATO forces. The information had to be as documented as possible. The hockey player became a member of a cell consisting of at least 16 people, and he was promised $10,000 for blowing up a train carrying weapons and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Poland will deport Sergeyev to Russia on May 26, 2025. Until then, he will serve his sentence in Lublin Prison.