A 41-year-old Russian citizen who illegally crossed the Belarus-Poland border was detained in Poland, according to the Border Guard Service of Poland. The Russian was in civilian clothing and without weapons. During the search, documents were found, including a contract indicating that he had participated in military operations in Ukraine. This suggests that the man may have deserted from the front line in Ukraine in order to reach Poland through Belarus.
Polish Radio reports that the detainee used a migrant channel organized by the Belarus authorities to cross the border. Now, border guards and police are investigating the incident and questioning the deserter. At the same time, according to Kremlin media, the Russian Embassy in Warsaw has stated that they have not received any information regarding the detention of a Russian citizen from Polish authorities. Following the outbreak of the war, Russia has increased penalties under the "desertion" article. As of November 2023, Russian military courts have received over four thousand cases of absent without leave.
Previously, it was reported that Judge Tomasz Schmidt of the Warsaw Voivodeship Administrative Court had fled from Poland to Belarus, where he sought political asylum. He and his wife had been involved in a controversy involving discrediting and blackmailing judges opposing judicial reform. Prime Minister Donald Tusk stressed that Schmidt had direct access to the former minister of justice, who in turn had access to classified documents.Schmidt was due in court in Warsaw next month to have his security clearance for NATO and EU classified information reviewed. Polish counterintelligence has now begun investigating what information Schmidt might have passed on to foreign intelligence services. Additionally, Polish journalists have discovered that Schmidt has accumulated significant debts with a bank totaling 145,000 dollars.
These are not the only events taking place along the border between the two countries in recent days. Today, Polish border guards spotted an unusual visitor at the border - a German Shepherd dog that had escaped from Belarus and entered Poland. The dog reacted positively to people in uniform and had a collar bearing a name written in Cyrillic script. The Poles contacted the Belarusian authorities and informed them about the dog, but the Belarusians denied that any dog was missing from their territory. Now the sheepdog has a new owner, a Polish border guard. The dog was temporarily housed at a border checkpoint in Bobrowniki after being given the necessary veterinary vaccines.
