Polish special services have found and dismantled bugging devices in a room where the council of ministers was due to meet on Tuesday, the special services coordinator’s spokesman said, Reuters reports.
Poland, a hub for Western military supplies to Ukraine as Kyiv fights Russia’s invasion, is on heightened alert for any signs of spying activity.
“The State Protection Service, in cooperation with the Internal Security Agency, detected and dismantled devices that could be used for eavesdropping in the room where the meeting of the Council of Ministers is to be held today in Katowice”, Jacek Dobrzynski wrote on social media platform X.
“The services are carrying out further activities in this matter,” Dobrzynski added.
On Monday, the government said it was verifying if a Polish judge who had access to confidential information and asked for political asylum in Belarus had been spying.
Good morning and welcome to our Ukraine blog as the time has just passed 10am in Kyiv and Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will be sworn into office at a lavish ceremony in the Kremlin later today, embarking on a record-breaking fifth term with more power than ever before.
As AFP writes, the 71-year-old has ruled Russia since the turn of the century, securing a fresh six-year mandate in March after winning presidential elections devoid of all opposition.
The inauguration will be broadcast live on most major Russian television channels from around midday (10.00BST), when a luxury motorcade will drive Putin to Moscow’s Grand Kremlin Palace.
After arriving, he will walk through the palace corridors to the ornate Saint Andrew Hall, where he will take the presidential oath and make a brief address to Russians.
Government officials and foreign diplomats in Moscow have been invited to the ceremony, including French ambassador Pierre Levy, who is expected to attend.
Other European countries including Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic have signalled that they will not send representatives amid soured tensions over the conflict in Ukraine.
Yesterday Ukraine urged its western allies not to recognise Putin as the “legitimate president” of Russia given his 87% landslide victory was criticised by most international observers and dismissed as rigged by opposition and rights groups.
The ceremony comes at an especially tense time for Russia’s diplomatic relations given that yesterday it announced tactical nuclear nuclear drills and threatened to strike British military facilities amid its anger over comments by senior politicians including Emmanuel Macron and David Cameron.