Polish officials have rejected Belarusian claims that a monk from Kraków was spying for Warsaw’s intelligence services, calling the arrest a political provocation.
Belarusian state television reported on Thursday that a 27-year-old Polish citizen was detained on charges of espionage.
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According to Polish media, the man is a Carmelite monk from Kraków called Grzegorz Gaweł. Belarusian TV channels ran footage of the man allegedly being questioned by security service officers.
The report claimed the Pole tried to recruit a Belarusian citizen via social media to gather information on military facilities and on the Russia-Belarus joint Zapad military exercises.
Footage aired by the channel appeared to show the man handing over documents in a car. The broadcaster claimed a criminal case for espionage had already been opened.
Poland responds
Responding to the reports, Jacek Dobrzyński, spokesman for Poland’s minister in charge of special services, said in a statement: “The arrest of a Polish citizen by the Belarusian KGB is another provocation by the Lukashenko regime aimed at our country.”
“Polish special services do not use monks to gather information about military maneuvers,” he added.
Belarus has a history of detaining Polish citizens to put pressure on Warsaw, a longtime critic of President Alexander Lukashenko’s authoritarian rule.
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Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, asked about the case at a press conference, said he did not want to speculate while the government verified details. “We know what kind of regime this is, we know what to expect from it,” he said.
“We are already in intergovernmental consultations on how to respond to this. I am convinced that the matter will not go unanswered,” Sikorski added.
He also reminded that other Polish nationals are in Belarusian prisons, including journalist Andrzej Poczobut, who has been jailed for his reporting on the Polish minority in the country.
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