Poland detains Russian hired to kill American of Ukrainian descent: PM

Polish authorities have detained a Russian man recruited by Russian intelligence to kill a US citizen of Ukrainian origin in Warsaw, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday.

An officer with Poland's Internal Security Agency (ABW).

Photo: abw.gov.pl

The Russian was detained on August 7 and had been recruited to kill a man considered an enemy of the Kremlin, Tusk told reporters.

He said the target, who had both US and Ukrainian citizenship, was considered a threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime and that the suspect had been tasked with carrying out the killing in the Polish capital.

"At the last moment, thanks to an operation by the Internal Security Agency (ABW) and police, we managed to prevent this assassination attempt," Tusk said at a news conference.

He described it as the first known case of a Russian-directed assassination attempt against a US citizen on the territory of another NATO country.

Tusk thanked Polish police and the ABW, as well as US authorities, for their cooperation in the case.

"We unfortunately have to assume that the Putin regime will seek to eliminate people who are inconvenient to it for various reasons, in various places around the world," Tusk said.

He added that Polish authorities would intensify efforts to prevent further attacks against Polish citizens or citizens of other countries in Poland.

Tomasz Siemoniak, the government minister in charge of the security services, said on X that the operation to detain the Russian suspect, was carried out in coordination with US authorities.

7 sierpnia br. ABW we współpracy z policją zatrzymała obywatela Rosji, który na zlecenie obcej służby przygotowywał zabójstwo obywatela USA ukraińskiego pochodzenia. Do zabójstwa miało dojść w Warszawie. Operacja była realizowana we współpracy ze służbami USA.

— Tomasz Siemoniak (@TomaszSiemoniak) August 13, 2026

Warsaw police said the 29-year-old suspect was detained in a "dynamic" operation on Wołoska Street in the capital.

🚨 Policjanci Wydziału do walki z Terrorem Kryminalnym i Zabójstw Komendy Stołecznej Policji, wspólnie z funkcjonariuszami Agencji Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego, zatrzymali mężczyznę podejrzanego o przygotowanie zabójstwa.

Do zatrzymania 29-letniego podejrzanego doszło 7 sierpnia… pic.twitter.com/bZpLHVYgLR

— Policja Warszawa (@Policja_KSP) August 13, 2026

Police and ABW officers worked together to gather evidence that allowed prosecutors to charge the man with "accepting an assignment to commit murder," police said.

A court ordered the suspect to remain in pre-trial detention for three months at the prosecutor's request.

If convicted, he faces between two and 15 years in prison.

In June, Polish authorities said they had detained a man suspected of involvement in the killing of a dissident Russian artist and outspoken critic of Putin in the eastern Polish city of Biała Podlaska.

Tusk said at the time that the suspect was carrying a Georgian passport and that authorities were working to establish "who ordered the killing."

(gs)

Source: TVP Info/IAR/PAP, Reuters

Click on the audio player above for a report by Piotr Urbaniak