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Russian detained in Poland after photographing rail infrastructure, police say

Reuters

WARSAW, Oct 30 (Reuters) - ‌Polish police said on Friday they had detained a 55-year-old ​Russian ‌man suspected of acting for a ‌foreign intelligence service, adding that a court had ordered him held ‌for three months.

Officers providing security for a football match in the southern Polish town of Swidnica spotted a man ⁠near a railway crossing photographing passing ‌trains and railway infrastructure. ⁠Police said they found thousands of ​photographs of key sites and transport facilities, not only in Poland, ​in his possession.

"The man is ​suspected ‌of carrying out activities on behalf of ​a foreign intelligence service. All ⁠indications are that the ‌photographs he took ​could have been ​used against the security of the state," the police said in a statement.

Poland has repeatedly accused Russia of ‌conducting espionage and influence operations on its territory, also using foreign ‌nationals, ​while Moscow has denied such actions.

The Russian embassy did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

(Reporting by ‌Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by William Maclean)