kravietz 🦇 on Nostr: #Poland Internal Security Agency (ABW) on increase of #Russia sabotage operations. ...
#Poland Internal Security Agency (ABW) on increase of #Russia sabotage operations. Nothing new, but worth having that reiterated in an official statement:
The Polish services responsible for the internal security of the state have noted an intensification of diversionary activities directed against the Republic of Poland and member states of the European Union and NATO this year. These are initiated and coordinated by Russian special services.
In 2023, officers of the Internal Security Agency detected and unravelled an espionage network carrying out reconnaissance and diversionary tasks on behalf of the Russian Federation. So far, 16 people have been convicted in this case, including 12 citizens of Ukraine, 3 citizens of Belarus and 1 citizen of the Russian Federation.
In 2024, the activity of diversionary groups operating on the territory of the Republic of Poland with the inspiration of Russian services has definitely increased. Civilian objects, including warehouses and big-box stores, became the main targets, and arson became the method. Hostile activity carried out on behalf of the Russian Federation is increasingly taking the form of terrorist activities. Persons carrying out tasks on behalf of Russian special services were involved, among other things, in the distribution in Europe of courier parcels containing camouflaged incendiary substances and a time mechanism, which were ignited during transport.
Young people in particular are recruited to carry out diversionary tasks and come from countries of the former USSR, including Ukraine and Belarus. It is not uncommon for them to be linked to criminal circles. Their main motivation for cooperating with Russian special services is financial. These individuals are not always motivated by ideological motives; they often declare anti-Russian views, which does not prevent them from carrying out de facto actions against Ukraine and Western countries anyway. The channel of communication is most often social media and instant messaging, and remuneration is mainly transferred in cryptocurrencies. This modus operandi makes it significantly more difficult for the services to detect the actual principals. The characteristics of Russian diversionary operations indicate that their aim is primarily to intimidate citizens of Poland and Western countries and to discourage them from providing further support to Ukraine. At the same time, they are a tool used by Moscow to test the resilience of Poland and our allies to hybrid threats.
Neutralising such threats, Polish security authorities carry out large-scale operational and exploratory and investigative activities. Due to the cross-border dimension of hostile activity and the nature of diversionary groups operating within clandestine intelligence networks, Polish special services, the Police and the Public Prosecutor’s Office also conduct intensive international cooperation, including with the authorities of Lithuania, Germany and the United Kingdom, among others. Currently, the Prosecutor’s Office is supervising several investigations into diversionary activities, which have been entrusted to the Internal Security Agency and the Police. In the course of these, around 20 suspects have so far been charged.
Original: https://abw.gov.pl/pl/informacje/2569,Komunikat-dotyczacy-dzialalnosci-dywersyjnej-FR.html (in Polish)
The Polish services responsible for the internal security of the state have noted an intensification of diversionary activities directed against the Republic of Poland and member states of the European Union and NATO this year. These are initiated and coordinated by Russian special services.
In 2023, officers of the Internal Security Agency detected and unravelled an espionage network carrying out reconnaissance and diversionary tasks on behalf of the Russian Federation. So far, 16 people have been convicted in this case, including 12 citizens of Ukraine, 3 citizens of Belarus and 1 citizen of the Russian Federation.
In 2024, the activity of diversionary groups operating on the territory of the Republic of Poland with the inspiration of Russian services has definitely increased. Civilian objects, including warehouses and big-box stores, became the main targets, and arson became the method. Hostile activity carried out on behalf of the Russian Federation is increasingly taking the form of terrorist activities. Persons carrying out tasks on behalf of Russian special services were involved, among other things, in the distribution in Europe of courier parcels containing camouflaged incendiary substances and a time mechanism, which were ignited during transport.
Young people in particular are recruited to carry out diversionary tasks and come from countries of the former USSR, including Ukraine and Belarus. It is not uncommon for them to be linked to criminal circles. Their main motivation for cooperating with Russian special services is financial. These individuals are not always motivated by ideological motives; they often declare anti-Russian views, which does not prevent them from carrying out de facto actions against Ukraine and Western countries anyway. The channel of communication is most often social media and instant messaging, and remuneration is mainly transferred in cryptocurrencies. This modus operandi makes it significantly more difficult for the services to detect the actual principals. The characteristics of Russian diversionary operations indicate that their aim is primarily to intimidate citizens of Poland and Western countries and to discourage them from providing further support to Ukraine. At the same time, they are a tool used by Moscow to test the resilience of Poland and our allies to hybrid threats.
Neutralising such threats, Polish security authorities carry out large-scale operational and exploratory and investigative activities. Due to the cross-border dimension of hostile activity and the nature of diversionary groups operating within clandestine intelligence networks, Polish special services, the Police and the Public Prosecutor’s Office also conduct intensive international cooperation, including with the authorities of Lithuania, Germany and the United Kingdom, among others. Currently, the Prosecutor’s Office is supervising several investigations into diversionary activities, which have been entrusted to the Internal Security Agency and the Police. In the course of these, around 20 suspects have so far been charged.
Original: https://abw.gov.pl/pl/informacje/2569,Komunikat-dotyczacy-dzialalnosci-dywersyjnej-FR.html (in Polish)