36-year-old Ukrainian detained in Poland for death threats against President Karol Nawrocki amid bilateral tensions
Police in Zielona Góra arrested a 36-year-old Ukrainian man who allegedly threatened to kill President Karol Nawrocki during an online discussion. The detention occurs against a backdrop of deepening Polish-Ukrainian diplomatic friction over historical memory.
The threat and arrest
Police detained the man on Friday in Czerwieńsk, a town in the Lubuskie voivodeship. The threats were uttered during a conversation on an internet channel, part of which was made public. According to Anna Baran, a press officer from the Zielona Góra municipal police, the comments included words that officers interpreted as an intent to take the president's life.
After receiving information about the published content, criminal investigators immediately located the man.
The suspect, a 36-year-old Ukrainian citizen, was taken into custody by criminal police from the Zielona Góra headquarters.
Legal basis
The man will be brought before a prosecutor on Saturday morning. Baran stated that he is expected to face charges under Article 226 of the Polish Penal Code, which covers public insult or disparagement of a constitutional organ of the Republic of Poland.
He will probably be charged with insulting a constitutional organ of the Republic of Poland in connection with making threats against the President.
The offense carries a fine, restriction of liberty, or up to two years in prison.
Political backdrop: Polish-Ukrainian tensions
The arrest follows weeks of sharply deteriorated relations between Warsaw and Kyiv. On 19 June, President Nawrocki announced the withdrawal of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest state decoration, from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The move was a response to Zelensky's decision to bestow the name “Heroes of the UPA” on a Ukrainian military unit. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) is remembered in Poland for the massacres of Poles in Volhynia between 1943 and 1945.
- President Nawrocki announces revocation of the Order of the White Eagle from President Zelensky in response to UPA unit naming.
- The returned order arrives at the Presidential Chancellery in Warsaw, confirmed by spokesperson Rafał Leśkiewicz.
- Police detain 36-year-old Ukrainian in Czerwieńsk for online death threats against President Nawrocki.
- Detainee expected to be brought before prosecutor to face Article 226 charges.
In a gesture of solidarity with Zelensky, former Ukrainian presidents Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko, and Petro Poroshenko returned their own Polish state orders. Zelensky subsequently announced that his order would be sent back to Warsaw by courier. Presidential spokesperson Rafał Leśkiewicz confirmed that the package arrived at the Chancellery on Monday, 22 June.
Reaction
Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine's Defence Intelligence, commented on the crisis during a meeting with students at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
I consider it a mistake. A serious mistake. There is an old rule that you should maintain good or at least neutral relations with your neighbours. Tensions with neighbours always create problems, from political to economic.
Polish authorities have not publicly linked the online threat directly to the diplomatic row, but the climate of animosity forms the immediate context of the incident.
