Фото: t.me/customs_bel
The District Court in Bydgoszcz is hearing the case of 28-year-old Polish citizen Wiktor Z., who is accused of espionage on behalf of Russian intelligence, Most writes, citing the newspaper Wyborcza. According to investigators, he expressed interest in cooperation during questioning at the Belarusian border in Brest, where he had arrived together with an acquaintance from Belarus.
According to the investigation, Wiktor Z. collected and attempted to pass on information about the NATO Joint Force Training Centre, Bydgoszcz Airport, the Military Aviation Works and the Nitro-Chem plant, a strategic TNT producer for NATO countries. However, the actual recipient of the information turned out to be Poland’s Internal Security Agency rather than Russian intelligence.
Wiktor Z. is a trained pianist and also graduated from the Faculty of Applied Linguistics. He speaks Russian and German fluently, did not hide his pro-Russian views, expected Russia to win the war against Ukraine and openly speculated about what would happen if information about NATO facilities were “leaked to the East.”
According to Wiktor, he traveled to Belarus for tourism purposes with an acquaintance from Belarus, Valery, who had come to Poland for work, and his then-girlfriend Darya.
At the Belarusian border, he was detained for questioning, his phone was inspected, and he was asked about his political views and attitude toward Russia.
“He said that some kind of internal security service detained him at the border. They spoke with him and some Ukrainian man, inspected his phone and asked about his political views and attitude toward Russia and Belarus. He showed them photos of himself in a Soviet uniform,” Wiktor’s girlfriend Marta said. “He did not say that any offer of cooperation with foreign services was made at that time. He provided information about where he would stay in Belarus and his contacts. ‘You are a person with the right views,’ he heard” [from a Belarusian officer].
Wiktor believed he was being handled by the KGB.
How the Polish special services became aware of Wiktor’s intentions remains unclear. But on March 12, 2025, he contacted Marta saying he wanted to talk. In a car parked near a supermarket, he showed her a message from the Russian side saying contact had been established with him and that they wanted to invite him to cooperate. Wiktor was agitated and believed it was a consequence of the previous year’s conversation at the Belarusian border.
The message was written in Russian. It read: “You do not know me, but I know you.”
In reality, the message had not been sent by Russian intelligence but by an officer of Poland’s Internal Security Agency. Wiktor Z. exchanged several emails with him before being detained on June 4, 2025.
The next court hearing is scheduled for June 8. Wiktor remains in custody at least until August 28.