“Russian spies are exposed”
Poland arrests Russian ice hockey player
6/30/2023 3:53 p.m
A Russian ice hockey player who played in Poland’s first division is said to be part of a larger spy network that is said to have been spying on the Polish railway network. This is the main hub for western arms shipments to Ukraine. The Kremlin wants to see evidence.
Poland’s secret service has arrested a Russian ice hockey player on suspicion of espionage. The alleged agent played for a club in the first division, it was shared Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro via Twitter. “The Russian spies are caught one by one!” The suspect carried out “tasks for foreign intelligence agencies,” including “identifying critical infrastructure in several regions,” the government said. According to Russian media, the arrested man is Maxim Sergeyev from Zaglebie Sosnowiec. The club has apparently already removed him from the squad list.
The athlete is the 14th member of a Russian spy ring arrested by Poland’s secret service. The ice hockey professional was arrested in Silesia on June 11, according to the responsible public prosecutor’s office of the PAP news agency. According to the investigators, the athlete has been in Poland since October 2021, and he was regularly paid for his espionage activities. The public prosecutor’s office is investigating membership in a criminal organization and activity for a foreign secret service to the detriment of Poland. He faces up to ten years in prison if convicted.
According to PAP, the espionage network is said to have primarily spied on the Polish railway network. EU and NATO member Poland is the main hub for delivering western military aid to Ukraine, which has been defending itself against a Russian invasion for a good 16 months. In addition, the alleged spies are said to be responsible for spreading “propaganda against NATO, Poland and the policies of the Polish government”.
The Kremlin in Moscow expressly criticized the process. “We express our sharp protest against Warsaw,” the news agencies RIA Novosti and TASS quoted a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying. “We demand that comprehensive explanations be provided to the Russian side without delay,” the spokeswoman continued. The Kremlin had said it was waiting for information from the Russian embassy in Poland. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the Polish authorities of having an “anti-Russian attitude” that makes the work of Russian diplomats “very, very difficult.”