Poland expels 45 Russian diplomats for spying

Polish Interior Minister Kaminsky said that they want to “dismantle the network of Russian services in our country.” Moscow threatened to take countermeasures in the event of the expulsion.

Poland announced, on Wednesday, the expulsion of 45 Russian diplomats on charges of espionage. On Wednesday, Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminsky said that “45 Russian spies” were disguised as diplomats. He said the Polish government was working decisively to eliminate “the network of Russian services in our country”.

The Polish intelligence had previously submitted a request to expel the diplomats. A spokesman for Poland’s domestic intelligence service (ABW) said on Wednesday that a list had been drawn up of “45 people working in Poland under the guise of diplomatic activities (…) and in fact carrying out espionage activities directed against Poland”. Stanislav Zarin. She added that the list containing the names of the accused was handed over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Russia announces countermeasures

According to the Russian ambassador to Poland, Sergei Andreev, diplomats should leave the country within five days. He denied the allegations against the 45 suspects, saying that Russia reserves the right to retaliate.

But Andreev told reporters when he left the Polish Foreign Ministry, that diplomatic relations between Warsaw and Moscow have not been broken. The embassies of the two countries will not be closed and the respective ambassadors will not be recalled.

On Wednesday, Poland’s domestic intelligence service also reported the arrest of a Polish national accused of spying for Russia. The activities of the man who worked in the Warsaw City Hall archives put the “internal and external security of Poland” at risk.

(APA)