A 36-year-old Ukrainian man has been arrested in Poland for allegedly making online threats against the Polish president, Karol Nawrocki.
According to Polsat News, the incident took place in the city of Zielona Góra.
According to the police, officers received material containing a conversation posted online, during which threats were allegedly made against the Polish president.
A local police spokesperson, Anna Baran, later told the publication that criminal investigation officers immediately located the man and arrested him on 26 June.
It is reported that he was taken to the public prosecutor’s office the following day.
The police note that the man is likely to face charges of insulting a constitutional body of the Republic of Poland in connection with the threats made against the president.
According to Polsat News, this act constitutes a breach of Article 226 of the Criminal Code, which is punishable by a fine or imprisonment for up to two years.
Other media outlets have not reported on this incident, nor has the police issued an official statement.
Neither Navrotsky himself nor his office has yet responded to this report.
This report by Polsat News comes against a backdrop of tension in relations between Polish President Karol Nawrocki and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
On 19 June, Polish President Karol Navrotsky announced that he had decided to strip Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle due to his decree naming a unit of the Armed Forces after the ‘Heroes of the UPA’. Navrotsky stated that, for the majority of Polish society, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army remains “a formation responsible for brutal crimes committed against citizens of the Republic of Poland during the Second World War”.
On 20 June, Zelenskyy sent the order via ‘Nova Poshta’. At the same time, he stated that ‘Ukraine remains grateful to Poland for its support and is open to further cooperation’.
Former Ukrainian presidents Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko and Petro Poroshenko have also declined the Order of the White Eagle.
The Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, announced that he was declining the Gold Officer’s Cross of the Order ‘For Merit to Poland’, which he had been awarded last year. In a post on his Telegram channel, Budanov described Navrotsky’s decision as an “unfriendly act” towards the Ukrainian people.
Vasyl Bodnar, Ukraine’s ambassador to Poland, also announced his intention to return the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. He described the Polish president’s decision as “historically unjust”.
Subsequently, in an interview with TSN, Zelenskyy explained the Polish president’s decision as being purely a matter of internal political struggle. The Polish president countered that the dispute was linked to domestic political processes in Poland.