Poland Orders 45 Russia Diplomats to Leave in Spying Crackdown

(Bloomberg) -- Poland expelled 45 Russian diplomats after arresting a low-level civil servant on suspicion of spying, joining a counter-espionage crackdown taking places across the European Union’s east following Moscow’s attack of Ukraine.

The diplomats, which Polish intelligence identified as officers of the Russian special services and their associates, will have to leave the country in the next five days, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lukasz Jasina said on Wednesday. Russia will retaliate by expelling Polish diplomats from Moscow, according to its ambassador in Warsaw.  

Russia’s “aggression against Ukraine proves that it’s a country that’s unfriendly, hostile against Poland,” Jasina said.

Separately, authorities detained a civil-registry clerk in Warsaw who allegedly provided Russians with documents that could be used to create false identities. He faces as much as 15 years in prison if convicted.

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