Russian hockey player arrested in Poland on suspicion of spying
Polish intelligence officers have detained Maksim S., a Russian ice hockey player accused of spying for Russian intelligence, Polish authorities revealed on Friday.
The Russian is a professional athlete of a first-league hockey club and has been in Poland since October 2021, where he "conducted activities that included, among other things, the identification of critical infrastructure in several voivodeships, informed his handlers about the results of intelligence, and received a reward for this," Poland’s law enforcement said.
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Maksim S. is believed to be part of a Russian spy network that was active in the east of Poland and was exposed earlier this year.
"The suspects, identified as foreigners across the eastern border, were conducting intelligence and propaganda activities against Poland," the Polish prosecutor’s office adds.
The Russian, who has been arrested for three months for fear of escape, faces up to 10 years in prison.
Earlier this year, Poland said it had uncovered a spy network involving at least a dozen foreigners who monitored railway tracks used to transfer military equipment to Ukraine.
According to Poland's interior ministry, the suspects were preparing for sabotage aimed at disrupting supplies, with surveillance cameras, GPS trackers, and other electronic equipment that were to be used to monitor transport in various locations found near the border.
The group was also tasked with propaganda activities "in order to destabilise Polish-Ukrainian relations, incite hostile sentiment in Poland towards NATO countries and undermine the Polish government's policy towards Ukraine".