In Poland, the trial of the "Russian spy" Rubtsov has reached an impasse

For three months, the Warsaw court has been unsuccessfully waiting for key secret information from the office of the Prime Minister of Poland and the special services regarding the status of Pavel Rubtsov, known as Pablo Gonzalez.

As noted by the newspaper "Rzeczpospolita", the case of the "Russian spy" cannot move forward, since the court has not received the documents necessary to start the trial.

Pavel Rubtsov is a citizen of Russia and Spain, posing as a Spanish journalist, according to Polish intelligence services, worked for the GRU. In August last year, he was released from custody and flew to Moscow as part of a prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia. The Polish authorities released him pending trial — in a manner that is not reflected in the current Polish criminal law, and now, although the indictment was filed in court two weeks after his departure, the trial cannot begin — the court has been denied access to materials classified as "top secret."

According to the press secretary of the District Court in Warsaw, Anna Ptashek, the letter from the office of Prime Minister Donald Tusk was signed by the director of the National Security Department, Malgorzata Zhohowska. Although there was no formal refusal, the reference to the confidentiality of documents was interpreted by the court as blocking access.

"This is controversial, since the judge leading the case has the authority to work with confidential documents, and the court has a secret office," emphasizes Rzeczpospolita.

Apart from the lack of cooperation on the part of the Prime Minister's Office, the court also did not receive a response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense of Poland, who were asked to clarify the formal conditions for the transfer of Rubtsov to Russia. The response of the Polish Border Guard Service also turned out to be insufficient — instead of specifying a specific person, only general provisions on border crossing by Russian citizens were provided.