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Polish archivist to stand trial over alleged spying for Russia

13.10.2025 13:05
A Warsaw City Hall archivist accused of stealing civil registry documents to help Russian intelligence build cover identities will face trial, daily Rzeczpospolita reported on Monday.
While working in the Civil Registry Archives, Tomasz L. allegedly copied at least several hundred documents and passed them to his handlerofficially a Russian embassy staffer, expelled from Poland in March 2022.
While working in the Civil Registry Archives, Tomasz L. allegedly copied at least several hundred documents and passed them to his handler—officially a Russian embassy staffer, expelled from Poland in March 2022.Photo: PAP/Albert Zawada

Prosecutors with the Mazovian Department for Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor’s Office say the clerk, identified only as Tomasz L., acted as a Russian agent for five years.

The scale of potential damage is hard to assess, the paper said, citing the case file.

While working in the Civil Registry Archives, Tomasz L. allegedly copied at least several hundred documents and passed them to his handler—officially a Russian embassy staffer later expelled from Poland—according to Rzeczpospolita, which said it reviewed the main points of the indictment.

The man's 2022 detention by Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) was followed by the expulsion of 45 Russian agents operating under diplomatic cover, including the officer who handled him, the newspaper said.

The materials he allegedly removed included civil status records of Polish citizens and foreigners, correspondence with diplomatic missions, official templates and internal guidelines.

He is accused of copying them onto private storage devices and his mobile phone.

The stolen personal data could be used by Russian services to fabricate “secondary” identities for sleeper agents—so-called “illegals” who operate under carefully prepared false biographies and borrowed personal details, the paper said.

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Source: PAP, Rzeczpospolita