“The arrest of a Polish citizen by the Belarusian KGB is yet another provocation by Lukashenko’s regime,” stated Jacek Dobrzyński, spokesperson for the coordinator of special services, late in the evening. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski declared that the matter will not remain without response. Belarusian authorities detained yesterday a 27-year-old monk from Kraków, accusing him of spying for Poland during the “Zapad” military exercises.
Belarusian state television on Thursday aired a report concerning the detention of a Polish citizen who, according to the broadcast, was allegedly gathering information about the joint Russian-Belarusian “Zapad” military exercises. According to the station, criminal proceedings on charges of espionage have been initiated.
The television reported that a resident of Kraków, born in 1998, was detained in the town of Lepel in the Vitebsk region, in northeastern Belarus. Footage was shown in which, as the station claimed, a Belarusian KGB officer is seen speaking with the detainee. The detainee says that he was supposed to obtain information about the Zapad exercises. However, local media reported that the monk does not speak Russian or Belarusian.
The propaganda piece also claimed that, along with the Pole, Belarusian citizens were detained, though they were not shown. Allegedly, they assisted him for money, and once even received coffee and chocolates as a gift. The Pole was supposedly interested in information regarding restricted military sites, the command staff, and officers of military counterintelligence.
“The arrest of a Polish citizen by the Belarusian KGB is yet another provocation by Lukashenko’s regime directed against our country. Polish special services do not use monks to collect information on military manoeuvres,”
the spokesperson for the coordinator of special services wrote on X.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski, asked about the matter at a press conference on Thursday evening, said that he had preliminary information on the case but did not wish to speculate. “We know what this regime is, we know what to expect from it,” he emphasised. He added that Polish citizens, including journalist Andrzej Poczobut, are already imprisoned in Belarusian jails.
“We are already engaged in internal governmental consultations on how to respond. I am convinced that this matter will not go unanswered,”
he stressed.
The Zapad-2025 manoeuvres, scheduled for September 12-16, are officially expected to involve 13,000 soldiers. The Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, Carsten Breuer, said on Monday that the exercises would involve 13,000 troops in Belarus and 30,000 in Russia. Lithuanian authorities provided lower estimates, up to 30,000 Belarusian and Russian troops in total. Breuer noted that there were no indications that, under the cover of Zapad-2025 exercises, an attack on NATO territory was being prepared, but he assured that German forces, as well as NATO, would remain vigilant.