Polish security services detained a Russian citizen accused of preparing to assassinate a dual US-Ukrainian national in Warsaw on behalf of Russian intelligence.
The detention took place on Aug. 7, according to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who revealed the information during a press conference. Tusk said that the Internal Security Agency (ABW) worked with police and US services to stop the plot before it was carried out, according to Polsat News.
“Unfortunately, we must proceed from the assumption that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s regime will attempt to eliminate people who are inconvenient for various reasons, in various parts of the world,” Tusk said.
First known case targeting a US citizen
“I am not authorized to disclose names, but this is the first such situation in which someone on behalf of Russia decides to attack an American citizen in another NATO country, specifically on the territory of Poland,” Tusk said.
Tomasz Siemoniak, Poland’s minister coordinator for special services, confirmed the operation’s details in a post on X, saying that the assassination “was to take place in Warsaw.”
Tusk warns of continued threats
Tusk described the plot as part of a broader hybrid campaign Russia is waging against Western nations supporting Ukraine, adding that Polish authorities are preparing for similar attempts in the future.
The Warsaw plot follows a similar case in June, when a Georgian citizen shot and killed a Russian government critic in Biała Podlaska, a town in the Lublin Voivodeship.
The victim, a cartoonist and satirist who went by the name Semyon Skrepetsky, mocked Putin, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov in his work.
His real name was Robert Kuzovkov, and he had lived in Poland since 2021 after saying he had faced political persecution in Russia.
According to the EU Commissioner for Defense Andrius Kubilius, Skrepetsky’s death should be seen as a warning to Europe, with more shocks to follow if the 27 member states do not take Russian threats more seriously.