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Polish authorities said on Wednesday they had arrested an aide to a prominent parliamentarian, accusing him of spying for a "big neighbour" – a clear reference to Russia.
The parliamentarian, Jozef Gruszka, heads a special committee investigating whether officials from the ruling Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) accepted bribes to help Russian oil giants buy Polish refineries.
The allegations have rocked new EU member Poland, threatening to sink the SLD in this year's general elections.
"A Warsaw court arrested a person close to a prominent member of the parliamentary committee on charges of spying for one of our neighbours, one of our big neighbours," deputy chief prosecutor Wlodzimierz Olejniczak said in a radio interview.
Another Warsaw prosecutor involved in the case said he could neither confirm nor deny the man was accused of spying for Russia. The Russian embassy in Warsaw declined to comment.
Relations between the former Cold War allies remain strained 15 years after the collapse of communism with Poland taking a strongly pro-Western line in foreign policy.
| Source: Reuters | March.10.2005 |
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