Polish Defence Ministry employee detained on suspicion of espionage
A long-serving employee of the Polish Ministry of National Defence has been taken into custody on suspicion of spying for Russia; the arrest took place inside the ministry's building.
As reported by Onet, a Polish news outlet, the suspect, believed to have been working for Russian intelligence, held a mid-level position in the Department of Defence Strategy and Planning at Poland's Ministry of Defence.
Journalists first learned about the arrest unofficially. The man was detained inside the ministry shortly after arriving at work at around 08:00, unaware of what was about to happen. He was then escorted out of the building and taken for questioning to the Warsaw District Prosecutor's Office.
The services had reportedly been monitoring this man's activities for many months. His actions were carefully documented and analysed, so the evidence collected is very strong, an anonymous source told the outlet.
The same source added that there have been no similar operations in recent years. The arrest of a suspected spy in such a sensitive institution as the Ministry of Defence should be considered an unquestionable and major success of Polish counterintelligence.
Later in the morning, the arrest was confirmed by Defence Ministry spokesperson Janusz Sejmej.
He said that he could only confirm that a long-serving employee of one of the departments had been detained and that the case was related to activities conducted by military counterintelligence.
Informujemy, że dzisiaj w godzinach porannych w siedzibie MON (al. Niepodległości, Warszawa) doszło do zatrzymania wieloletniego pracownika resortu obrony narodowej. Zatrzymany podejrzewany jest o współpracę z obcym wywiadem. Sprawę prowadzi Służba Kontrwywiadu Wojskowego, która… pic.twitter.com/n3J9h4bKtj
– Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej 🇵🇱 (@MON_GOV_PL) February 3, 2026
In a subsequent official statement, the Ministry of Defence provided nearly the same information, confirming that a long-serving employee had been arrested inside the ministry and accused of cooperating with a foreign intelligence service.
It was said in the statement that the case was being handled by the Military Counterintelligence Service, which worked together with the Military Affairs Department of the National Prosecutor's Office and the Military Police during the arrest. Procedural actions were reportedly ongoing.
Also on 3 February, it became known that in Poland a resident of the border town of Hrubieszów was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for collecting information for Russian intelligence, including on security measures at the strategic Rzeszów airport.
Recently, Poland also put out a wanted notice for a former soldier who had acted in Russia's interests.