Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has threatened harsh consequences following the arrest of Polish citizens suspected of collaborating with Russian intelligence services.
He wrote on the short messaging service X, formerly Twitter, on Friday: "There will be no leniency for collaborators with the Russian secret services. We will burn out every betrayal and every attempt at destabilization with a red-hot iron."
Commenting on the current status of the investigation into two specific conspiracies, he said that a Pole responsible for a thwarted assassination attempt on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had been arrested two days ago. The man had co-operated with Russian secret services.
A Belarusian working for the Russians, who gave two Poles the order to attack an employee of deceased Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny, was also detained, as were the would-be assassins themselves. The latter were radical football fans, so-called Ultras, wrote Tusk.
On Thursday, the Polish authorities announced the arrest of a man who had allegedly spied on the airport in Rzeszów in south-eastern Poland in order to prepare an assassination attempt on Zelensky.
The airport is considered a transshipment point for Western arms supplies to Ukraine and a transfer point for Zelensky and other Ukrainian politicians on visits abroad.
The arrest of two Poles wanted in Lithuania was announced on Friday. They are alleged to have carried out an attack on Navalny confidant Leonid Volkov in March. Volkov was seriously injured in Vilnius.
