Фото: gov.pl
A Warsaw district court on Thursday ordered a two-month provisional arrest for two Ukrainian citizens suspected of carrying out sabotage on the railway. The term will begin once the perpetrators are detained, if they are captured. The measure is necessary for the next steps in pursuing the fugitives internationally, including issuing an Interpol notice, PAP reported.
The prosecution requested the arrest of the Ukrainian citizens Yevhenii Ivanov and Oleksandr Kononov. The charges concern acts of sabotage of a terrorist nature carried out in the interests of the intelligence services of the Russian Federation.
Ivanov and Kononov left Poland through the Terespol border crossing before they were identified by the authorities. Both men were mentioned by Prime Minister Donald Tusk in the Sejm on 18 November. “These are individuals we suspect: one of them is a Ukrainian citizen convicted by a Lviv court in May this year for sabotage committed in Ukraine and currently located in Belarus. The second is a resident of Donbas. He also entered Poland from Belarus together with the first suspect this autumn, shortly before the attacks,” the Polish prime minister said at the time.
During the investigation, another Ukrainian citizen, Vladimir B., was detained. According to the prosecution, he helped prepare the attack: he identified the location, transported one of the saboteurs to the site, and installed equipment for recording images. He was placed under arrest immediately after being detained.
Between 15 and 17 November, an explosive device of military origin was detonated and a steel clamp was installed on the Warsaw–Lublin railway line, which could have caused a train derailment. The incidents have been classified by the Polish prosecutor’s office as acts of sabotage of a terrorist nature.
On 21 November, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry unexpectedly announced that Belarusian and Polish authorities were jointly conducting activities to determine the whereabouts of two Ukrainian citizens suspected of terrorist crimes on Polish territory.