Bugging devices found in Polish government meeting room

Representative picture: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg meet at the Warsaw Armoured Brigade's base, in Warsaw, Poland, April 23, 2024. REUTERS

Polish security agents have discovered bugging devices in a room where ministers were due to meet on Tuesday, authorities said, without revealing who might have placed them there.

As a hub for Western military supplies to Ukraine during the more than two-year war with Russia, Poland has been on heightened alert for spying.

"The State Protection Service, in cooperation with the Internal Security Agency, detected and dismantled devices that could be used for eavesdropping in the room where the meeting of the Council of Ministers is to be held today in Katowice," security services spokesperson Jacek Dobrzynski wrote on X.

He did not comment on the origin of the devices, but said the meeting would take place as planned at 1000 GMT.

Ministers were due to discuss energy policy including the transition away from coal and a programme to soften the impact of high electricity prices on vulnerable households.

On Monday, the government said it was verifying if a Polish judge, who had access to confidential information and asked for political asylum in Belarus, had been spying.