Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW), backed by Border Guard units, carried out coordinated dawn raids in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław, Zakopane and Bydgoszcz on 29 June, detaining nine Ukrainian and two Belarusian citizens. According to government security coordinator Tomasz Siemoniak, the group allegedly recruited paid demonstrators among Ukrainian refugees to seed Kremlin-friendly narratives. All eleven were issued immediate expulsion orders and ten-year Schengen re-entry bans. The operation highlights a growing focus on hostile-influence activity using migrant communities. The suspects reportedly began organising rallies in autumn 2025, offering cash to participants. Investigators say funding originated in Russia and that encrypted-messaging analysis linked the organisers to previous disinformation campaigns targeting Polish-Ukrainian relations.
![ABW & Border Guard expel 11 foreign nationals accused of pro-Russian agitation]()
VisaHQ’s Poland desk can help employers and expatriates navigate this stricter environment. Through its portal (https://www.visahq.com/poland/), the service consolidates current visa classes, residence-permit requirements and appointment availability, offering step-by-step guidance that minimises security-related delays and paperwork errors.
For relocation teams, the episode signals tighter scrutiny of foreign-nationals’ public activities. HR departments sponsoring Ukrainian professionals should remind them to keep residence documents current and report any summons from authorities promptly. Employers hosting corporate events with political overtones may need to file security notifications under Poland’s 2016 Counter-Terrorism Act. Diplomatically, the expulsions risk friction with Kyiv and Minsk but reinforce Warsaw’s stance against Russian interference. Similar security vetting can be expected at visa-issuing posts and during in-country residence-permit interviews, potentially lengthening processing times in the coming months.
VisaHQ’s Poland desk can help employers and expatriates navigate this stricter environment. Through its portal (https://www.visahq.com/poland/), the service consolidates current visa classes, residence-permit requirements and appointment availability, offering step-by-step guidance that minimises security-related delays and paperwork errors.
For relocation teams, the episode signals tighter scrutiny of foreign-nationals’ public activities. HR departments sponsoring Ukrainian professionals should remind them to keep residence documents current and report any summons from authorities promptly. Employers hosting corporate events with political overtones may need to file security notifications under Poland’s 2016 Counter-Terrorism Act. Diplomatically, the expulsions risk friction with Kyiv and Minsk but reinforce Warsaw’s stance against Russian interference. Similar security vetting can be expected at visa-issuing posts and during in-country residence-permit interviews, potentially lengthening processing times in the coming months.
