Poland on Tuesday rejected Russian allegations that its security services were involved in an attempted assassination of a senior Russian military intelligence officer in Moscow.
Brig. Gen. Jarosław Strożyk, head of Poland's Military Counterintelligence Service, said claims by Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, were "typical disinformation" intended for domestic audiences, according to local media reports.
Russian authorities said Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alexeyev, deputy head of Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, was shot several times in Moscow on Feb. 6 and taken to a hospital. The attacker fled the scene.
They later said a Ukrainian-born Russian citizen, 66-year-old Lyubomir Korba, was extradited from Dubai and charged with injuring Alexeyev.
The FSB said the attack was ordered by Ukrainian intelligence, alleging Polish services were involved in recruiting the suspect. Russian media also claimed Korba's son, a Polish citizen living in the southern Polish city of Katowice, helped recruit his father under the coordination of Polish intelligence.
Speaking to Poland's state news agency PAP, Strozyk dismissed the accusations, saying reports of Polish involvement in assassinations or sabotage in Russia and Belarus were fabricated to bolster a narrative that Russia and Belarus are under constant pressure from NATO and Western countries.
He said the claims may have been partly linked to the recent arrest in Warsaw of a suspected long-term Russian mole at Poland's Defense Ministry, but added that the messaging was mainly aimed at Russian and Belarusian publics.
Strozyk also criticized the spread of the allegations through major international outlets, calling it "disturbing."
He said Polish intelligence services operate within the law and under political oversight from senior state officials, including the prime minister and the president.
