Poland says it thwarted a Russian plot to kill an American citizen in Warsaw

Polish authorities have successfully intercepted an alleged Russian assassination plot targeting a dual Ukrainian-American citizen in the capital city of Warsaw, according to government announcements made on Thursday. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk addressed journalists during a press conference to reveal that the intervention prevented an execution in its final stages. According to reports, the targeted individual held both U.S. And Ukrainian passports and was deemed inconvenient to the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Officials from Poland's Internal Security Agency (ABW) and police carried out the arrest on August 7, detaining a Russian citizen allegedly recruited by Russian intelligence services to execute the attack.

Tomasz Siemoniak, the Polish minister overseeing intelligence services, confirmed that the counter-operation was executed in close cooperation with American services. The targeted victim was described as a U.S. Citizen of Ukrainian origin, though authorities did not immediately provide further details. Prime Minister Tusk characterized the operation as an unprecedented escalation, stating that it marked the first time that “someone on the order of Russia” sought to attack an American citizen on the territory of another NATO country.

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The Russian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Furthermore, Russian President Vladimir Putin told AP in May that Russia is not waging a sabotage campaign against Europe.

Intelligence analysts and Western officials view the thwarted Warsaw operation as part of a much broader, highly aggressive campaign of targeted killings, sabotage, and arson across Europe since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. The AP has mapped about 200 acts of sabotage, arson and other disruption across Europe since the start of the war that officials have linked to Russia. Security services note that operators have grown increasingly brazen in targeting foreign supporters of Ukraine, military defectors, and outspoken activists under what a senior European intelligence official described as direct political authorization.

Poland itself has frequently found itself on the frontline of these covert activities due to its role as a hub for military and other supplies to neighbouring Ukraine. In June, a Russian artist who was critical of Putin was shot and killed at close range near his home in eastern Poland. Robert Kuzovkov, known by the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky was critical of Putin and Tusk said at the time that the killing had the hallmarks of a political assassination. He suggested it was possible Russia was behind it but Polish officials have not yet attributed it to Moscow. Polish authorities arrested a man in 2024 in what they said was a plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

European security services have disrupted several similar schemes in recent years. Last year French officials disrupted a plot which they believe was aimed at killing Vladimir Osechkin, a Russian exile who lives under police protection and works to help military defectors flee Putin’s war. Lithuanian officials also disrupted a plot last year to kill a Lithuanian supporter of Ukraine and another against a Russian activist. Officials in Germany have similarly broken up two plots: one to target the head of a German weapons company supplying Ukraine, the other against a Ukrainian military official. a Russian helicopter pilot who defected was killed in Spain — with Russian operatives the prime suspects.

Prime Minister Tusk warned that Warsaw and the broader alliance must accept that the current regime in Moscow will try to eliminate people who are inconvenient for various reasons, suggesting that Poland will likely come under similar pressure again. As investigations continue following the August 7 detention, intelligence and security services across the region remain on heightened alert for further covert operations tied to the ongoing conflict.