Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-001534/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Mariusz Kamiński (ECR)
The Commission’s rule of law report criticised the conservative Polish government for arresting dangerous Russian spy Pavel Rubtsov[1], which raises serious questions. Poland was clearly being pressured to release a Russian spy. In addition, this was an attack on the EU’s most anti-Putin government, which has been exceptionally active in supporting Ukraine in the war with Russia. Despite spending millions of euros on fact-checking and fighting disinformation, the Commission made no effort to verify the circumstances around Rubtsov’s arrest but simply, and disgracefully, played into Russia’s hands.
The Commission handled the situation disgracefully, avoiding any responsibility and pinning the blame entirely on the Council of Europe’s platform[2]. However, following the spy exchange and the public welcome from Putin that backed up the Polish government’s position, the Council of Europe updated the information on the platform on 16 October. Other organisations also withdrew their false accusations[3]. By not withdrawing its disgraceful claims, the Commission is alone in stubbornly sticking to and promoting the lie. Commissioner McGrath’s stance was also significant – during an EUDS committee meeting he did not respond to questions on the matter.
- 1.The Commission’s false accusations serve the interests of the Russian special services. It is the Commission’s responsibility to determine whether the accusations originated from them. Does the Commission intend to conduct an investigation and disclose who backed up these disgraceful claims?
- 2.Does the Commission recognise that defending Rubtsov and attacking the Law and Justice government served the interests of the Russian special forces?
- 3.Will the Commission continue to be the only institution compromising itself in this fashion, or will it apologise and update its 2023 report?
Submitted: 15.4.2025
- [1] The 2023 rule of law report criticised the Polish government for arresting Spanish left-wing journalist Pablo González. The case was supposed to be evidence of rule of law violations in Poland and restrictions on freedom of speech. However, Pablo González was actually Pavel Rubtsov, a dangerous Russian spy. In August 2024, Rubtsov was handed over to the Russians as part of a high-profile spy swap and was greeted by Putin at the airport.
- [2] In response to a question I submitted, the Commission stated that it had supported Rubtsov based on information from the Council of Europe platform.
- [3] Alert 87/2022 was deactivated and its content was updated. In addition, the Council of Europe stated that ‘the partner organisations decided to deactivate this alert on the Platform, concluding that the charges against Pablo González (Pavel Rubtsov), which led to his arrest in Poland, were not related to his journalistic activities.’ httpsfom.coe.int/en/alerte/detail/107637244.