WARSAW — Poland thwarted a Russian plot to kill a Ukrainian American citizen in Warsaw before it could be carried out, according to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He stated this was the first time "someone on the order of Russia" had targeted a U.S. citizen on the territory of another NATO country.
Western officials have previously warned that Russia intensified a campaign of targeted killings following President Vladimir Putin's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, claiming to have disrupted several plots across Europe. However, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk described this incident as unprecedented.
The suspect, allegedly recruited by Russia's secret services, was detained by Polish authorities on August 7 and will remain in custody for three months, as stated by the Warsaw police.
Tusk commented at a news conference that the targeted American Ukrainian citizen "was uncomfortable for the Putin regime," without providing further details.
The operation was conducted in collaboration with U.S. services, according to Tomasz Siemoniak, Poland's minister overseeing intelligence services. He identified the victim as a U.S. citizen "of Ukrainian origin." Officials have not yet released additional information.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has not yet responded to a request for comment.
The U.S. State Department acknowledged awareness of the reports but stated they had no further information.
Russia has a history of targeting its adversaries abroad, including through the use of rare poisons. Intelligence officials have informed The Associated Press that Russia's security services are now more brazen in their target selection, encompassing Russian activists, foreign supporters of Ukraine, and military defectors.
"We must assume that the Putin regime will try to eliminate people who are inconvenient for various reasons, in various places around the world," Tusk said on Thursday, emphasizing the need for Poland and its allies to be prepared to counter such actions.
Western officials view this campaign as part of Russia's broader efforts to destabilize European countries that support Ukraine. The AP has documented approximately 200 acts of sabotage, arson, and other disruptions across Europe since the war began, which officials have linked to Russia. President Vladimir Putin, however, told the AP in June that Russia is not conducting a sabotage campaign against Europe.
In 2006, British authorities accused Russia of orchestrating the killing of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London using radioactive polonium. The U.K. also blames Russia for the 2018 attempted assassination of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in Salisbury with the nerve agent Novichok.
German authorities reported that Russia organized the 2019 assassination of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a former Chechen rebel commander, who was shot in a Berlin park by Vadim Krasikov. Krasikov was later honored by Putin after being exchanged in a spy swap.
In June, a Russian artist critical of Putin was shot and killed near his home in eastern Poland. Tusk stated at the time that the killing of Robert Kuzovkov, known by the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, bore the hallmarks of a political assassination and suggested Russian involvement, though Polish officials have not yet officially attributed it to Moscow.
Last year, French authorities disrupted a plot believed to be aimed at assassinating Vladimir Osechkin, a Russian exile living under police protection who assists military defectors in fleeing Putin's war. Lithuanian officials also thwarted plots last year targeting a Lithuanian supporter of Ukraine and a Russian activist. German authorities have also dismantled two plots: one targeting the head of a German weapons company supplying Ukraine, and another against a Ukrainian military official.
Polish authorities arrested a man in 2024 in connection with what they described as a plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. That same year, a Russian helicopter pilot who had defected was killed in Spain, with Russian operatives being the prime suspects.
"This campaign is not by accident or chance," a senior European intelligence official previously told the AP. "There is political authorization."
