BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

16/07/2007

Belarus KGB claims arrest of uncovered Polish spies network agents

Officers of the Belarusian State Security Committee (KGB) have uncovered Polish intelligence residents, news agency Interfax reports from Minsk, referring to the KGB deputy chairman Viktor Vegera who spoke on the air of the Belarusian ONT TV channel yesterday.

Five people, former soldiers, who were gathering information in the interests of Poland's intelligence agencies were detained, the deputy chairman said, adding that the information dealt with the condition of the joint Russian-Belarusian air defense system. Spies did not damaged Belarus' defense capacity, news agency cites Vegera. One of the five suspects is a citizen of Russia, online paper Khartiya'97 adds.

Moscow-based radio Echo Moskvy reports, referring to the KGB sources in Minsk, that the detained had gathered and conveyed to Poland data on anti-aircraft defence complexes S-300. A Major of the Russian Armed Forces had to surrender with confession of spying after four other suspects were arrested, it says. Another suspect, former head of military intelligence at a Belarusian air and missile defense brigade Viktor Bogdan, was detained in his office.

Former Belarusian army anti-aircraft defence officer Vladimir Russkin said that Polish intelligence agencies recruited him in Poland. Polish customs officers found five times as much alcohol as one can carry in his luggage, he said, adding that Polish intelligence agencies proposed him to shut their eyes to the fact if he becomes their resident in Belarus in turn, Interfax reports.

A criminal case was opened on charges of spying (Part 1 of Article 356 of the Belarusian Criminal Code) against them for giving away a state secret to a foreign state, espionage, assistance to a foreign state in carrying out hostile activities against Belarus by committing crimes against the state intentionally committed by Belarusian citizens in prejudice of external security of ten country, its sovereignty, territorial integrity, national security and defense potential. The case was taken to court, news agency BelaPAN reports. Article 356 Part 1 provides for an imprisonment for up to 15 years.

News agency DPA marks that the KGB announcement came after months of deteriorating relations between Minsk and Warsaw. Poland is one of the most active critics of authoritarian Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko. The Polish government funds the Belarusian-language Radio Racyja, which broadcasts on FM in Belarus, Radio Free Europe adds.

Belarus' state-controlled media in 2006 accused diplomats in Poland's embassy to Minsk of acting as go-betweens between Belarusian dissident groups, and western governments. The Polish military attache, Kazimierz Witaszczyk, was expelled from Belarus, with the state security service claiming it has proof that he is a spy, in April 2004, according to Warsaw Business Journal. Belarusian KGB raids recently have targeted evangelical Christian organizations and Polish ethnic societies - both, according to Lukashenko, long being used by Polish and other NATO secret services to undermine his regime, DPA notes.

Source:

http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1346