A former MP and politician in Poland has been charged with espionage for Russia and China, according to a report.

The politician, identified only as "Mateusz P." under Polish privacy laws, was detained by the country’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) in 2016.

Mateusz P., who was once an MP for Poland’s Samoobrona (Self-Defence) party and headed the Zmiana (Change) grouping, has been charged with working for the Russian and Chinese intelligence services and against Poland’s national interests, broadcaster RMF FM reported, citing a bill of indictment that it said prosecutors had submitted against the suspect.

A regional branch of the National Public Prosecutor's Office in Poland’s central Mazowieckie province has sent the bill of indictment to a court, RMF FM reported on Monday.

Prosecutors believe that Mateusz P. in his former role as a politician -- using his numerous contacts at home and abroad, among journalists and in political circles -- promoted Russia’s national interests, RMF FM reported.

He is also suspected of provoking anti-Polish sentiment among Ukrainians and anti-Ukrainian sentiment among Poles, RMF FM said. According to prosecutors, his actions aimed to deepen divisions between Poland and Ukraine.

According to prosecutors, Mateusz P. undertook these activities in conspiracy with Russian security services and obtained substantial financial gain in exchange, RMF FM reported.

The broadcaster cited prosecutors as saying an investigation had revealed that Mateusz P. also worked for the Chinese intelligence service against Poland’s national interests until October 2015.

When Mateusz P. was detained in 2016, the deputy head of the Change grouping, Konrad Rękas, said that Internal Security Agency officers had searched the apartments of members of the grouping’s national authorities, demanding the handover of hard drives, data storage devices, documents, and other items, RMF FM reported.

Rękas insisted at the time that Mateusz P. and other Change activists were "doing business in accordance with the law in Poland, despite being harassed by state authorities," according to RMF FM.

Spying carries a prison term of one to 10 years in Poland, RMF FM reported.

(gs/pk)

Source: rmf24.pl </s> WARSAW, Poland — Polish authorities have detained a Russian citizen and banned four others from entering Poland for five years on allegations of “information warfare.”

Authorities say they tried to fuel animosity between Poles and Ukrainians and sought to challenge Polish views on history with a Russian narrative.

The move comes amid rising fears that Russia is seeking to destabilize Poland and exacerbate Polish-Ukrainian tensions that would leave Ukraine isolated. Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

Poland’s Internal Security Agency, which investigates espionage and terrorism, said Thursday that it had detained a Russian woman identified only as Yekaterina C. and would expel her.

The agency accused the Russians of being engaged in “hybrid” activities, a term used to describe non-military but subversive tactics that Russia is suspected of using to further its interests. </s> Russia's FSB state security agency says it has arrested a US citizen "caught spying" in Moscow.

It named him as Paul Whelan, saying he was arrested in Moscow on 28 December and charged with "espionage".

The FSB, Russia's main counter-espionage service, gave no further details.

If found guilty, he faces between 10 and 20 years in jail, Russia's Tass news agency reports. There has been no US confirmation yet.

Spying accusations have been a persistent feature of Russia's relations with the US and UK this year.

Earlier this month a Russian gun rights activist held in the US, Maria Butina, pleaded guilty to conspiracy. US prosecutors say she acted as a Russian state agent, infiltrating conservative political groups.

In March the UK and its Western allies expelled more than 100 Russian diplomats, in response to the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury. The UK government accused the Russian state of carrying out the nerve agent attack.

Russia denied this and retaliated by expelling dozens of Western diplomats. </s> Poland has detained a Russian woman who was part of a pro-Russian group that sought to whip up tension between Poland and Ukraine and will expel her soon, the national agency for internal security ABW said on May 17.

Four other people involved in what the ABW described as “hybrid” activities against Poland would be banned for five years from entering Poland, the ABW said. ABW identified the Russian woman as “Yekaterina C.”.

Read more here. </s> A Ukrainian court is deliberating whether to arrest a celebrated former military pilot accused of plotting an attack on parliament with grenades and automatic weapons.

Nadiya Savchenko was taken into custody on Thursday after the parliament stripped her of her immunity as a lawmaker. Prosecutors have accused Savchenko of plotting a coup in collusion with Russia-backed rebels.

She told the court on Friday that her case was politically motivated and declared a hunger strike.

Savchenko became a national icon in Ukraine after spending years in a Russian prison, but she became a critic of the Ukrainian government, accusing it of failing public hopes.

She says she talked about attacking parliament as a "surrealist political provocation" to mock the government because she knew she was being wiretapped by authorities. </s> WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland has detained a Russian woman who was part of a pro-Russian group that sought to whip up tension between Poland and Ukraine and will expel her soon, the national agency for internal security ABW said on Thursday.

Four other people involved in what the ABW described as "hybrid" activities against Poland would be banned for five years from entering Poland, the ABW said. ABW identified the Russian woman as "Yekaterina C.".

It did not elaborate on the identities of the four other people which it said had undertaken "determined attempts to consolidate pro-Russian groups in Poland around two key priorities of Russia's hybrid actions against Poland."

"That is fuelling Polish-Ukrainian animosities in social and political spheres as well as undermining interpretation of Polish history and replacing it with a Russian narration," the ABW said.

There was no immediate comment available from Russia.

Hybrid warfare includes conducting foreign disinformation campaigns, such as spreading fake news, and targeting the public at crucial times such as elections and in diplomatic or other crises.

ABW said its intervention had "neutralized the activity of two network structures taking part in the Russian hybrid and information war carried out against Poland".

Poland, a member of NATO and the European Union, views Russia as the biggest threat to its security, especially since Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. </s> PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Montenegro’s special prosecutor has accused Russia and its secret service operatives of plotting a coup attempt that included plans to kill the small Balkan country’s former prime minister, Milo Djukanovic.

Prosecutor Milivoje Katnic says that an investigation into the alleged plot last October to overthrow Montenegro’s government and prevent it from joining NATO has shown “that Russian state bodies were involved at a certain level.”

Katnic told Prva TV late Sunday that Eduard Shishmakov, an alleged Russian military spy, was the main coordinator of the plot.

Katnic says Shishmakov was deputy Russian military attaché in Poland before being expelled for espionage in 2014.

Some 20 people, mostly Serbian citizens, have been arrested in Montenegro over the alleged plot. </s> US citizen arrested in Russian on spying charges

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's domestic security agency says it has arrested a U.S. citizen on espionage charges.

The Federal Security Service, or FSB, the top KGB successor agency, said that the American man detained in Moscow on Friday. The agency said in Monday's statement that he was caught "during an espionage operation," but didn't give any details.

The state Tass news agency identified the detained man as Paul Whelan. Spying charges carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years in Russia.

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow had no immediate comment.

The arrest comes as Russia-U.S. ties have sunk to post-Cold War lows over the Ukrainian crisis, the war in Syria and the allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. </s> Ukrainian opposition leader and ex-President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili was deported to Poland on Monday, the Ukrainian border service said, after he was detained in a Kiev restaurant by law enforcement agents in camouflage, Reuters reported.

Poland’s border service confirmed that he had arrived and that Warsaw had agreed to let him enter.

“This person was on Ukrainian territory illegally and therefore, in compliance with all legal procedures, he was returned to the country from where he arrived,” border service spokesman Oleh Slobodyan said in a post on Facebook.

“This is not a president and not a man. This is a lowlife crook who wants to wreck Ukraine. All this shows how weak they are. We will of necessity defeat them.”
A former MP from Poland's Samoobrona party is charged with spying for Russia and China.