WARSAW
\nPolish security services said Thursday they had raided a Russian spy network in cooperation with Czech intelligence, which a day earlier had busted a major Russian propaganda network.
\nThe services said their operations were linked to charges filed earlier this year against a Polish citizen suspected of spying for Russia.
\n\u201cThe Internal Security Agency is conducting activities as part of an investigation into espionage activities for Russia directed against European Union countries and institutions,\u201d agency spokesman Jacek Dobrzynski said on social media.
\nHe added in a statement that the agency had carried out raids in the capital Warsaw and the southern city of Tychy and interrogations in connection with the case.
\nHe said the spy network\u2019s \u201cgoal was to implement the Kremlin\u2019s foreign policy objectives, including weakening Poland\u2019s position on the world stage, discrediting Ukraine as well as the image of EU organs.\u201d
\n\u201cThe operations carried out are the result of the agency\u2019s international cooperation with a number of European services, coordinated in particular with Czech partners.\u201d
\nDobrzynski added that the security agency\u2019s operations began from an investigation that in January resulted in charges against a Polish citizen suspected of Russian espionage.
\n\u201cThe man, embedded in Polish and EU parliament circles, carried out tasks commissioned and financed by colleagues from Russian intelligence,\u201d he said in the statement.
\nThese tasks notably included \u201cpropaganda activity, disinformation as well as political provocation. Their objective was to build Russian spheres of influence in Europe.\u201d
\nThe security agency has not revealed the man\u2019s identity.
\nThe Czech Republic announced on Wednesday that it had busted a Moscow-financed network that spread Russian propaganda and wielded influence across Europe, including in the European Parliament.
\nPrague said the group used the Prague-based Voice of Europe news site to spread information seeking to discourage the European Union from sending aid to Ukraine, which has been battling a Russian invasion since February 2022.
\nThe Czech government has added the Voice of Europe and two pro-Kremlin Ukrainian politicians \u2014 Viktor Medvedchuk and Artem Marchevsky \u2014 to its sanctions list in relation to the network\u2019s activities.
\nThe Denik N daily said the news site had published statements by politicians demanding the EU halt aid to Ukraine.
\nSome European politicians cooperating with the news site were paid from Russian funds that in some cases also covered their 2024 EU election campaign, the daily adds.
\nThe payments targeted politicians from Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands and Poland, Denik N said, citing a Czech foreign ministry source.
\nAsked about the network, a spokeswoman for the German interior ministry said \u201cthis case is another example of Russia\u2019s extensive and wide-ranging influence activities.\u201d \u201cThe Federal Republic of Germany also remains an important target of Russian influence operations,\u201d she told AFP.
\n\u201cThe German security authorities will continue to use all available means and in cooperation with their foreign partners to investigate such influence operations and take measures to prevent them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WARSAW Polish security services said Thursday they had raided a Russian spy network in cooperation with Czech intelligence, which a day earlier had busted a major Russian propaganda network. The services said their operations were linked to charges filed earlier this year against a Polish citizen suspected of spying for Russia. \u201cThe Internal Security Agency […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397013,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-396993","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n