Poland sends counter-terror police to the Kaliningrad border after warnings of armed sabotage groups

Poland has launched a special police operation along its border with Russia's Kaliningrad exclave after military intelligence and allied services warned that saboteurs, possibly including armed groups, could try to cross in the coming days.

National police chief Marek Boroń confirmed to broadcaster RMF that a command staff has been set up in Warsaw, with regional headquarters in Olsztyn and Białystok, and that extra officers, including counter-terrorism units, have been sent to the Warmia-Masuria and Podlasie provinces, Notes From Poland and Rzeczpospolita report. Police are working with the army, the Border Guard and the special services. Boroń called the operation preventive.

Police had already ordered officers onto "full readiness" from Nov. 2 to 8. Police headquarters denied that order had anything to do with the standoff over Poland's Constitutional Tribunal, saying it is tied to sabotage threats and "the actions of eastern services," meaning Russia and Belarus. A 55-year-old Russian suspected of spying was detained Oct. 30 in Świdnica while photographing trains, RBC-Ukraine reports.