Man is arrested after 'threats and plans to attack' Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his Defence Minister

A man accused of masterminding an assassination plot against Poland's Prime Minister and his defence minister has been arrested, Donald Tusk said today. 

Polish police said they had received information about the possible assassination of Poland's top brass.

'The man threatening an attack has been detained,' Polish PM Tusk wrote on X, praising the police for their 'swift and decisive action'.

The nature of the threat and its origin were not clear. 

Radio Zet, a Polish broadcaster, reported that police had received an email with information about the threat. 

The arrest was also confirmed on X by Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski.

A 'report about a potential assassination attempt on Prime Minister Donald Tusk, as well as on Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, was transmitted to the police via the State Protection Service (SOP)', interior ministry spokeswoman Karolina Galecka said at a press briefing. 

The interior ministry had earlier said that Mr Tusk and the defence minister may have been targeted.   

The Polish Prime Minister had previously warned that Russia could intensify hybrid attacks on Nato's eastern flank. 

Earlier on Sunday, the interior ministry ordered authorities to take action and a meeting convened after information about a possible assassination attempt was received. 

Members of the police, state protection service (SOP) and internal security agency were present at the meeting Sunday.

'We are treating this matter as deadly serious,' a spokesman for the minister-coordinator of special services, Jacek Dobrzynski, told journalists afterwards.

'Month by month, year by year, more and more various threats and menacing messages reach the police, SOP, and the services concerning Poland and Poles,' he said, adding that 'in this case we are talking about a strong likelihood that these threats could actually be carried out'.

Poland, a Nato and EU member country, has been on high alert following multiple stabbing attacks in the last week, which Mr Tusk on Thursday denounced as a 'cult of violence'.

Poland has suffered cyberattacks which have been attributed to Moscow as it remains on the frontline of Russia's hybrid war against Ukraine's backers in Europe.