Documents from the Internal Security Agency (ABW), obtained by Gazeta Wyborcza, reveal that the recruitment of arsonists willing to commit acts of arson in Europe and the USA was mainly conducted online by Russian operatives.
Pro-Russian Ukrainians were targeted through various Telegram groups. Online ads called for organizing protests, distributing leaflets, committing arson, and gathering information about Ukrainian and NATO forces.
Russian intelligence's online recruitment of arsonists exposed in Poland
As part of their efforts against propaganda, espionage, and subversive activities commissioned by the Russian Federation, Polish authorities have detained a total of 20 individuals.
One of them is Siergey S., a 51-year-old Ukrainian who intended to set fire to a paint factory near Orlen's fuel depot, which stores 56 million liters of fuel.
He was a graduate of Mechnikov University in Odessa. The police arrested him at the PKS bus station in Wrocław at the end of January 2024 for planning to ignite facilities near strategic infrastructure, which could have contaminated the Oder River along the Polish-German border.
His luggage included grill lighters, instructions for supporting the Russian invasion, and videos on how to produce explosives.
Investigators suspect that a Russian or Belarusian intelligence agent, nicknamed "Lucky Strike," recruited the Ukrainian online.
A week after Siergey S.'s arrest, "Lucky Strike" offered $5,000 via Telegram to burn the same location.
Source: GW/IAR/TVN24
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