Russian national detained in Poland over photographing railway infrastructure
Police in the Polish city of Świdnica detained a 55-year-old Russian citizen on suspicion of spying for foreign intelligence services. Many photos of rail facilities were found on his devices.
Polish police have detained a 55-year-old Russian citizen in the city of Świdnica on suspicion of espionage, the Polish radio station RMF24 reported on Friday. The case matters because Polish officials see it as evidence of Russian sabotage activity in Europe.
Photographed from a car
According to police, the man was photographing passing trains and the city's railway infrastructure from his car window. Devices confiscated from him contained a large number of photographs of transport network facilities in Poland and other countries. He has been charged with acting on behalf of foreign intelligence services against Poland.
Official's assessment
Tomasz Siemoniak, Poland's coordinator of intelligence services, said such an arrest is rather an exception. He explained that earlier detentions were preceded by surveillance and information gathering on the suspects. In his view, the Świdnica case shows that Russia plans, prepares and carries out hybrid sabotage operations.
Related case
A 25-year-old Ukrainian citizen was also recently detained in Poland. He is suspected of links to a group that prepared sabotage acts in Europe on Russian orders. The group is suspected of setting fire to a facility of the state defence concern Romarm in Brașov, Romania, in September 2026. Romanian security services suspect the Ukrainian of gathering information in the interests of foreign intelligence services. He may also have worked with two Belarusian citizens detained in Germany. The group's potential targets reportedly included training centres for Ukrainian military personnel on EU territory, as well as state and private arms manufacturers.
