A Polish court has sentenced a 28-year-old Belarusian man to three and a half years in prison for preparing an arson attack on a warehouse in Chełm on behalf of a foreign intelligence service, after investigators said he surveyed the site, filmed it and passed the material to his handler in return for cryptocurrency.
The verdict against Vitalij S. was issued by the Lublin Regional Court on Monday, 28 September. The defendant agreed to submit voluntarily to the sentence without a full trial, with prosecutors accepting the proposed three-and-a-half-year prison term.
According to the Internal Security Agency (ABW), the Belarusian had been recruited through the Telegram messaging service and instructed to gather information about a warehouse in Chełm, in eastern Poland.
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Investigators said he carried out reconnaissance of the site in July 2025, recorded video of the building and sent the resulting material to the person who had commissioned the task.
The National Prosecutor’s Office said when filing the indictment that the material was subsequently passed to another person who was instructed to set the warehouse on fire.
Prosecutors characterised the planned act as sabotage conducted for a foreign intelligence service and said an arson attack at the warehouse could have endangered property on a large scale.
Authorities have not publicly identified the country whose intelligence service was behind the operation.
That distinction is important. Poland has accused Russia of directing a wider campaign of sabotage and attempted sabotage on Polish territory, but investigators have not publicly said that Vitalij S. was working for Russian intelligence.
Local reporting from the court proceedings identified the targeted building as a large hall in Chełm containing a customs warehouse.
Vitalij S. was paid PLN 1,474.96 in cryptocurrency for carrying out the reconnaissance, according to information presented by prosecutors during the proceedings.
The operation did not progress to an actual fire. The ABW said its officers detected and disrupted the preparations before the planned sabotage could be carried out.
Vitalij S. was arrested in Warsaw on 13 August 2025. He subsequently admitted the offence during the investigation and provided explanations to prosecutors.
The case reached the Lublin Regional Court after prosecutors filed an indictment in July 2026 accusing him of preparing sabotage and diversion activities on behalf of a foreign intelligence service against Poland.
Proceedings on Monday were partially closed to the public because prosecutors argued that the case files contained information affecting an important state interest and that disclosure could endanger national security.
The defendant’s lawyer then informed the court that Vitalij S. wanted to accept punishment voluntarily without a full trial.
The court imposed the agreed three-and-a-half-year prison sentence, as well as a PLN 1,500 fine and an order to pay PLN 2,000 to Poland’s Victim Assistance Fund. He was also deprived of public rights for nine years.
The proceedings also concerned drug possession. Earlier prosecution material said Vitalij S. had been charged with possessing narcotics in addition to the sabotage-related offence.
The conviction comes amid a broader series of Polish investigations into suspected espionage, sabotage and arson carried out for foreign intelligence services.
The National Prosecutor’s Office maintains a dedicated record of espionage and sabotage investigations, including cases involving attempted arson, surveillance of critical infrastructure and alleged intelligence activity conducted by recruited individuals inside Poland.
Polish authorities have repeatedly warned that some of these operations rely on people recruited remotely through messaging platforms and paid relatively small amounts to conduct reconnaissance, vandalism, arson or other disruptive acts.
In Vitalij S.’s case, however, the publicly confirmed finding is narrower: he was convicted of preparing an arson attack for an unidentified foreign intelligence service, and no fire was ultimately carried out.
