Poland breaks up Russian spy ring targeting shipments of aid to Ukraine

March 16 (UPI) -- Six foreign citizens have been charged in Poland for planning "sabotage actions," as part of a Russian spy ring, Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said Thursday.

Agents of Poland's internal security agency, the ABW, discovered GPS trackers that were intended to be mounted on aid deliveries in the possession of the suspects, which Kaminski said they would use to monitor railway traffic and weapons shipments to Ukraine.

"The suspects were also preparing sabotage actions aimed at paralyzing the supply of equipment, weapons and aid to Ukraine," Kaminski told a press conference.

In a tweet Thursday, Kaminski thanked the ABW officers "for their quick, decisive and effective actions that led to the dismantling of a group of spies working for Russia." "

Poland is and will be a safe country, and all threats are neutralized by competent and professional services," he wrote.

Local radio reported that cameras had been installed near the Rzeszow-Jasionka airport, which has been a hub for U.S. weapons deliveries.

"It was a spy group, they were collecting information for the benefit of those who attacked Ukraine," Polish Defense Minister, Mariusz Blaszczak, told the PR1 public broadcaster.

In February a Russian citizen residing in Poland was charged with spying for Russia. Additionally, Spanish journalist, Pablo Gonzales, who also holds Russian nationality, has been in Polish custody since April on suspicion of spying for Russia.

Gonzales' arrest has been criticized by the International Federation of Journalists, who have suggested the arrest could be the result of a misunderstanding about the different names on his Russian and Spanish passports.