WARSAW, Poland — Prosecutors in Poland say that Russian national Mikhail Mirgorodsky is the alleged organiser of a Polish-Russian spy ring which conducted sabotage activities, arson and espionage on sensitive rail and military targets across the country. They say the 28-year-old directed 30 agents from Russia using encrypted messaging apps to try to destabilise Poland because of its support for Ukraine, Dec. 8, 2025.
Prosecutors say he faces five charges in absentia: creation and participation in an organised terrorist group, conducting foreign intelligence activities, ordering arson attacks on Polish soil, a foiled plan to derail a train by 2023, incitement to violence against Ukrainians living in Poland, and financing crimes through cryptocurrencies. The case, reported by Reuters, is being pursued by investigators in the eastern city of Lublin, working with members of Poland’s Internal Security Agency, or ABW, for its Polish name.
Poland’s Russian spy ring was also assigned to surveillance of military vehicles and infrastructure, and placement of GPS trackers and data transmitters near bases and rail lines, the investigators said, as well as distribution of pro-Russian messages and anti-NATO leaflets “to destabilise social situations.” According to the independent outlet Notes from Poland, Mirgorodsky’s knowledge of cryptocurrency enabled him to funnel payments to operatives for surveillance, propaganda, and attempted attacks.
Polish officials describe Mirgorodsky as a mathematician believed to reside in a town in the Moscow region of Russia, outside the territory of Polish law. Those wanted by prosecutors have been issued with a domestic arrest warrant and an Interpol red notice, Euronews reports, as Russia has repeatedly rejected claims that the sabotage in Europe was politically motivated.
How the Polish-Russian spy ring supposedly worked
Members of the group communicated via encrypted channels and would send photos and videos to show they had completed assignments before receiving cryptocurrency transfers, according to Poland’s ABW. Security services said in a statement quoted by the public broadcaster TVP World that the network was created “with direct support and at the request” of Russia’s Federal Security Service, which they accused of providing funding and technical support.
The Polish-Russian spy ring has already secured convictions. In 2023, ABW detained 16 individuals linked to the network — primarily Ukrainian and Belarusian citizens — who were later sentenced to prison terms ranging from just over a year to six years on charges of espionage and plotting an attempt to derail a train carrying military aid for Ukraine, as Culture.pl reported earlier. Prosecutors say they have now charged eight more suspects, including Mirgorodsky, with several believed to be overseas.
The Polish-Russian spy ring is merely part of a pattern, as earlier such plots demonstrate.
Mirgorodsky’s purported network is not the first Polish-Russian spy ring to set its sights on key rail lines feeding Ukraine. Officials previously arrested nine suspects in March 2023 on charges of monitoring tracks for an attempt to carry out a weapons shipment sabotage, which the officials say is part of a Russian spy ring aimed at disrupting Western military aid, according to The Guardian.
Months later, an investigation by The Washington Post detailed how Russian military intelligence reportedly used Telegram channels to hire Ukrainian refugees in Poland who were paid up to $50 to pass out anti-Ukraine posters or shoot photos of infrastructure before some workers were assigned riskier tasks outside rail yards, airfields and seaports.
This past summer, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that 32 Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Colombian nationals have been arrested as part of a larger rash of arson and sabotage plots against Russian intelligence, including attempts to destroy warehouses and rail lines across Poland, according to AP News. Investigators say the Mirgorodsky case builds on the earlier arrests.
Warsaw bolsters defences against low-level sabotage.
Warsaw has stepped up its defences in the wake of the Polish-Russian spy ring and a series of suspected Russian-backed attacks. After an explosion on a critical railway line between Warsaw and Lublin in November, the government closed the last Russian consulate in Poland and sent thousands of soldiers to protect key infrastructure, moves that officials portray as a response to a “hybrid war” characterised by sabotage, cyberattacks and disinformation.
For the time being, the accused Poland spy ring leader is still in Russia, and prosecutors say they have no way to compel him to return. But by identifying Mirgorodsky in public, issuing warrants for him, and linking him to plots that have already resulted in dozens of arrests, the Polish authorities are hoping to deter other operatives and send a message that Europe is watching Moscow’s covert campaigns with greater care than ever before.
