Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk revealed on Thursday that Polish security services had detained a Russian national suspected of planning to assassinate a Ukrainian-American dual citizen in Warsaw, acting on orders from Moscow. The arrest, carried out last Friday, was described by Tusk as a rare and serious breach of NATO's eastern frontier.
"He was inconvenient from the point of view of the Putin regime and at the last moment...we managed to prevent this execution," Tusk told journalists. He stressed the unprecedented nature of the plot: "This is the first situation of its kind in which someone, acting on Russian orders, decided to carry out an attack against an American citizen on the territory of another NATO country."
The operation involved Poland's Internal Security Agency (ABW) and police, with cooperation from American services. Tusk did not disclose the suspect's identity or the exact target, but he warned that such attempts are likely to recur. "We have to accept the assumption that the Putin regime will try to eliminate people who are inconvenient for various reasons," he said, adding that Warsaw "will likely come under similar pressure again."
A pattern of sabotage and political violence
Poland, a NATO and EU member on the alliance's eastern flank, has repeatedly accused Russia of sabotage since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In June, a Russian caricaturist and Putin critic, Semyon Skrepetsky (real name Robert Kuzovkov), was shot dead in eastern Poland. Tusk later called the killing a "political murder."
Last November, an explosion damaged a railway line linking Warsaw to southeastern Poland—a route Tusk described as "crucially important for delivering aid to Ukraine." He called the incident an "unprecedented act of sabotage."
Beyond Poland, several opponents of the Russian authorities have been attacked or killed abroad, including in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Lithuania. The latest plot in Warsaw, however, marks a dangerous escalation: targeting a US citizen on NATO territory.
The news comes amid heightened tensions across the region. NATO has recently condemned Russian airspace violations over Poland and Romania, and drone strikes have continued to claim lives in Ukraine, including a recent attack on a passenger train in the Odesa region.
Tusk's government has been vocal about the threat from Moscow, and this latest revelation is likely to reinforce calls for stronger security measures across the alliance. Analysts note that Poland's role as a logistical hub for Western military aid to Ukraine makes it a prime target for Russian intelligence operations.
The arrest also underscores the broader challenge of protecting dissidents and dual nationals from Russian retaliation. While the US has not yet commented publicly, the incident is expected to be a topic at upcoming NATO meetings.
For now, Warsaw is on high alert. As Tusk put it, the threat is not hypothetical—it is a reality that Poland and its allies must confront together.
