WARSAW, Aug 13 (Reuters) – Poland has arrested a Russian man who was hired by Moscow to kill a Ukrainian-American citizen in Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday.
The Russian was detained on August 7 and had been recruited to kill a man who was “inconvenient to the Putin regime”, Tusk told journalists.
The Russian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Moscow has regularly dismissed accusations by European powers of attacks, saying the West is stoking anti-Russian paranoia.
“Thanks to the truly brilliant action of our services … we detained a Russian citizen recruited by Russian intelligence services,” Tusk said.
The Russian had been hired to kill a man who had both Ukrainian and U.S. passports, Tusk said, without giving any more information on his identity.
“At the last minute, thanks to the action of the Internal Security Agency and the police, we managed to prevent this execution, this attack,” Tusk added.
In June, a Russian artist critical of President Vladimir Putin was shot and killed in the eastern Polish town of Biala Podlaska, prosecutors said.
Poland says its role as a hub for military and other supplies to neighbouring Ukraine has made it a target for Russian espionage and attacks.
(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Anna Koper and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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