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Prisoner exchange. Who did Poland free? Statement on Russian agent Pavel Rubtsov

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Poland released Pavel Rubtsov as part of Thursday's prisoner exchange between Russia and Western countries. He is a Russian agent – a GRU officer arrested on the Polish-Ukrainian border just after the start of the full-scale Russian aggression in 2022. As reported by Jacek Dobrzyński, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior and Administration and coordinator of special services, Polish authorities “accepted the request of the US authorities” to include Rubtsov in the large prisoner exchange.

For the exchange of prisoners between Russia, Belarus and Western countries took place on Thursday in the capital TurkeyAnkara. Poland also participated in it. Among others, Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza, who were held in Russia, were released. A convicted Germany for the murder of FSB Colonel Vadim Krasikov, and Rico Krieger, held in Belarus, to Germany.

Read more: Largest prisoner exchange “since the Cold War”

The swap of 24 prisoners serving sentences in seven countries is the largest since the Cold War, White House national security adviser said. Jake Sullivan. Two children who were not prisoners also took part in the exchange, but their identities were not disclosed, Reuters writes.

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Who did Poland free?

Poland has released Pavel Rubtsov. As the independent Russian website Insider recalled earlier on Thursday, Rubtsov, an agent of the GRU military intelligence service, was detained on the Polish-Ukrainian border on February 27, 2022, three days after Russia's full-scale invasion. He posed as a Spanish journalist and used the name Pablo Gonzales. He allegedly used his journalist status to gather information in Ukraine for the Russian special services, its goal was also to gain the trust of Russian oppositionists.

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After his arrest – according to the Insider portal – on data carriers found in his possession, detailed reports were identified about the activities of Zhanna Nemtsova and people from her entourage. Rubtsov, posing as a journalist, was particularly interested in participants of a summer school of journalism from Ukraine and the United States – reports Insider.

Zhanna Nemtsova is a journalist, the daughter of Boris Nemtsov, one of the leaders of the anti-Kremlin opposition, who was killed in 2015. She lives in exile.

“Based on close Polish-American ties, allied cooperation and common interests”

The spokesman issued a statement on the matter Ministry of Interior and Administration and coordinator of special services Jacek Dobrzyński. “Based on close Polish-American ties, allied cooperation and common security interests, as well as the same understanding of democratic values, the authorities of the Republic of Poland – the president, prime minister and government – accepted the request of the US authorities to include Pavel Rubtsov, arrested in Poland in 2022, in the exchange of persons imprisoned in Russia and Belarus and NATO countries, in compliance with the provisions of Polish law,” we read.

As added, Rubtsov is “a GRU officer, carrying out intelligence tasks in Europe and awaiting criminal trial”. “As part of the exchange, a group of officers and collaborators of Russian special services went to Russia, and a group of wrongly accused and convicted citizens of Western countries and Russian defenders of human rights and democracy left Russia and Belarus,” wrote Dobrzyński.

“We welcomed with satisfaction the declaration of the US authorities on the intensification of cooperation in the fight against the hybrid aggression of Russia and Belarus against Poland, including the threat of sabotage actions,” concluded Dobrzyński's statement.

Main image source: PAP/Radek Parsley



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