Poland says Russia attempts to recruit Poles to destabilise country before elections
Pravda Ukraine
Krzysztof Gawkowski, Poland’s Minister of Digital Affairs, has stated that Russian secret services are trying to recruit Poles to destabilise the country before the elections.
Source: Gawkowski on Polish radio station RMF FM, as reported by European Pravda
Details: Gawkowski noted that Russian intelligence aims to exploit Poles, particularly to spread disinformation on the Polish Internet.
“Russian [secret] services have started looking for Poles to destabilise the situation in the country. I’d like to warn everyone against actions against their own country,” Gawkowski said.
He added that Europe needs to stay on guard regarding the cyber war with Russia.
“Iād like to remind everyone that anyone who enters into any kind of relationship with foreign intelligence is subject to Article 130 of the Criminal Code, which carries a penalty of imprisonment.
Even minimal contact with Russian services constitutes espionage, and since January, Russian military intelligence has been actively seeking Poles to participate in this. This situation is unprecedented,” said Gawkowski.
“We’re seeing information in cyberspace, especially in the dark web, the Darknet, that there are proposals from APT [Advanced Persistent Threat] groups or groups approached by Russia that are directly intended to support Russian intelligence services in paying Poles for actions against their state,” he added.
He promised to announce a plan to protect the elections in cyberspace soon.
Background:
- Voting in the first round of the Polish presidential election is to take place on 18 May 2025.
- Recently, opposition-backed candidate Karol Nawrocki said that he did not see Ukraine “in the EU or NATO”, a comment that sparked criticism both domestically, including from Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and from Kyiv.
- The Polish opposition described the reaction of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to Nawrocki’s statement as “interference in the elections”.
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