The suspects, identified as 19-year-old Belarusian Aliaksei B. and 44-year-old Pole Rafał G., used the Telegram messaging app to recruit operatives to support propaganda by Belarus' authoritarian government, according to investigators.
They were detained in Warsaw by officers from Poland's Internal Security Agency (ABW), authorities said.
Prosecutors allege the two men operated in Warsaw and elsewhere in Poland in 2024 and 2025, recruiting people of various nationalities through Telegram to carry out acts of sabotage.
According to the National Public Prosecutor's Office, those recruited were paid in cryptocurrency to perform tasks including photographing critical infrastructure and other sites important to Poland's national security.
The materials gathered were later used for propaganda purposes by the Belarusian government, prosecutors and government officials said.
Jacek Dobrzyński, spokesman for the minister coordinating Poland's security services, said the suspects also attended events organized by the Belarusian community in Warsaw, where they photographed and filmed participants.
The recordings were then sent to Belarus and used by the country's security services and state propaganda apparatus, he said.
Jacek Dobrzyński. Photo: PAP/Piotr Nowak
A court ordered Aliaksei B. held in pretrial detention for three months. Rafał G., meanwhile, was released under police supervision and barred from leaving Poland. Authorities also confiscated his passport.
The arrests are part of a broader espionage investigation. In November, Polish authorities detained five other suspects—two Ukrainians and three Belarusians—in connection with the case, state news agency PAP reported.
Three of those suspects remain in custody, while one minor has been placed in a juvenile detention center. Proceedings against another suspect were discontinued after the person died, prosecutors said.
Officials said the investigation is ongoing and that further arrests are possible.
(gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, gov.pl