Poland’s government announced on Thursday that the authorities arrested a Russian man who planned to assassinate a Ukrainian-American citizen at the behest of the Kremlin.
This comes amid multiple Russian plots to assassinate individuals the Kremlin believes are a threat.
From NBC News:
Poland has arrested a Russian man who was hired by Moscow to kill a Ukrainian-American citizen in Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday.
The Russian was detained on August 7 and had been recruited to kill a man who was “inconvenient to the Putin regime”, Tusk told journalists.
The Russian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Moscow has regularly dismissed accusations by European powers of attacks, saying the West is stoking anti-Russian paranoia.
“Thanks to the truly brilliant action of our services ... we detained a Russian citizen recruited by Russian intelligence services,” Tusk said.
The Russian had been hired to kill a man who had both Ukrainian and U.S. passports, Tusk said, without giving any more information on his identity.
“At the last minute, thanks to the action of the Internal Security Agency and the police, we managed to prevent this execution, this attack,” Tusk added.
🚨🇵🇱🇷🇺🇺🇦🇺🇸 Poland says it has foiled a Russian-directed plot to assassinate a Ukrainian-American citizen in Warsaw, in what Prime Minister Donald Tusk described as an unprecedented case involving a U.S. citizen on NATO territory.
— Visioner (@visionergeo) August 13, 2026
According to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk,… pic.twitter.com/0TbgaCvaVj
The identity of the intended victim has not yet been revealed.
This comes after German authorities thwarted a Russian intelligence operation aimed at assassinating Stefan Thumann, an executive at drone manufacturing company Donaustahl. The company provides reconnaissance and FPV drones to the Ukrainian military as it works to repel the Russian invasion.
A foreign partner intelligence agency warned the German government in December 2025 that the executive faced an imminent threat. Two suspects, a Ukrainian man named Serhii N. and a Romanian woman identified as Alla S., allegedly surveilled Thumann’s home and the company’s headquarters between December 2025 and March 2026 before they were arrested in Spain and Germany.
Die Zeit reports Russian intelligence planned to assassinate Stefan Thumann, head of German drone maker Donaustahl. German security services thwarted the plot after receiving warnings from allied countries. Thumann is now under increased protection and recently said he could not… pic.twitter.com/GRnI27YcwO
— NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) August 5, 2026
While these attacks were thwarted, Russia has had some success when it comes to eliminating certain individuals. BBC reported that Russian artist and dissident Robert Kuzovkov, known by the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, was shot five times and killed on June 15, 2026, in a parking lot near his home in the Polish town of Biała Podlaska.
Reuters reported that a 36-year-old suspect with a Georgian passport was later detained in connection with the killing. The authorities also held two Belarusian men for questioning.
Tusk told reporters that “All indications are that this is a political murder.”
