Poland Says It Foiled Russian-Ordered Assassination of US Citizen
Poland announced on Thursday that it had thwarted a Russian-ordered plot to assassinate a United States citizen of Ukrainian origin in Warsaw, calling it the first known attempt by Moscow to kill an American on the territory of a NATO member state.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a news conference that the suspect, allegedly recruited by Russian intelligence services, was detained by Polish authorities on August 7. The Warsaw police said the individual will remain in custody for three months.
"The American-Ukrainian citizen was uncomfortable for the Putin regime," Tusk said without providing further details. He added that the operation was carried out in cooperation with U.S. intelligence services.
Poland's minister coordinating intelligence services, Tomasz Siemoniak, confirmed that the intended victim held U.S. citizenship and was of Ukrainian origin. Officials declined to elaborate on the plot or the suspect's identity.
The Russian Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment. The U.S. State Department said it was aware of the reports but had no additional information.
Tusk stated, "We must assume that the Putin regime will try to eliminate people who are inconvenient for various reasons, in various places around the world." He stressed that Poland and its allies must be prepared to counter such actions.
Western intelligence officials have previously said Russia has intensified covert operations targeting its adversaries since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. These operations are seen as part of a broader effort to undermine European nations supporting Kyiv. The Associated Press has documented around 200 incidents of sabotage, arson, and other disruptive acts across Europe that officials have linked to Moscow. President Vladimir Putin denied in June that Russia was conducting a sabotage campaign against Europe.
Russia has a long history of suspected assassinations abroad. In 2006, British authorities accused the Kremlin of involvement in the death of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London, who was poisoned with polonium. The U.K. also blamed Russia for the attempted murder of former military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018 using the nerve agent Novichok.
Germany said Russia orchestrated the 2019 killing of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a former Chechen rebel commander shot in a Berlin park by Vadim Krasikov, who was later freed in a prisoner exchange and greeted by Putin.
More recently, a Russian artist critical of Putin, Robert Kuzovkov (known as Semyon Skrepetsky), was shot dead near his home in eastern Poland in June. Tusk said the killing bore the hallmarks of a political assassination, but Polish authorities have not yet attributed it to Moscow.
French officials last year disrupted a suspected plot to kill Vladimir Osechkin, a Russian exile under police protection who helps military defectors. Lithuanian authorities also foiled plots against a Lithuanian supporter of Ukraine and a Russian activist. Germany broke up two plots: one targeting the head of a German arms company supplying Ukraine, and another aimed at a Ukrainian military official.
In 2024, Polish police arrested a man accused of plotting to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Earlier that year, a Russian helicopter pilot who defected was killed in Spain.
The latest reported plot in Warsaw underscores the persistent threat posed by Russian espionage activities across Europe and the close security cooperation between Poland and the United States.
