Poland said on Tuesday that 32 individuals from five separate countries had been detained for allegedly working with Russian intelligence.
The announcement by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk came as the West warned of an upsurge in Moscow’s hybrid war on Europe by the use of arson and acts of disinformation to destabilize the countries and to undermine their support for Kyiv.
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“At the moment, 32 people who are suspected of collaborating with Russian special services who ordered sabotage or contract beatings have been detained,” Tusk said on Tuesday, as reported by Polish outlet PAP.
The 32 suspects include Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, as well as a Pole and a Colombian, a list that is not exhaustive Tusk said.
“… despite our effectiveness in the fight against the organizers of sabotage and contract beatings, the time has come to issue a real emergency signal to all special services,” he added.
Currently, only one out of the 32 has been convicted.
The Colombian man, who was accused of starting two fires in the country, has been detained in recent weeks, as reported by RBC Ukraine.
Tusk also cautioned that the risks posed by Russian sabotage are “permanent.”
“This is seen by everyone – the US, NATO, our European allies – as a permanent threat that will remain in the future,” he said.
After Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland has been a staunch supporter of Kyiv’s defense despite the occasional hiccups in Kyiv-Warsaw relations involving trade disputes.
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Poland’s role as a key logistics hub for Western aid to Kyiv has also made it a likely target for Russian sabotage efforts.
In March 2023, Poland said it dismantled a Russian spy ring tasked with identifying key railway routes and junctions, probably in relation to Western aid supplies to Kyiv.
In October 2024, two Russians were arrested in Poland for handing out leaflets promoting Wagner, a Russian private military company accused of committing war crimes in Ukraine.
In May 2025, Poland accused Russian intelligence services of staging a fire in 2024 that destroyed a large shopping center in Warsaw.
As of May 2025, Poland has closed at least two Russian consulates in the country, citing espionage risks, as the relations between Moscow and Warsaw reached a new low.
In light of a potential Russian invasion, Poland has also announced its withdrawal from the Ottawa Treaty that bans the use of anti-personnel landmines, paving the way for the country to mine its border with Russia’s Baltic enclave Kaliningrad.