From Warsaw to Bosnia and Herzegovina: The escape of a Russian who was sending explosives in packages, stopped by OSA

His name is Alexander Bezrukavyi. He had been on the run for more than three months, wanted by European security services on suspicion of working for Russia’s GRU military intelligence service. Two nights earlier, Bezrukavyi, 44, had set off on foot from Croatia, making his way through the dense forests and hills of the Balkans to illegally cross into Bosnia. As soon as he reached his destination, he called his wife, telling her they would soon be together in Russia, and then arranged with a friend the final details of his return, using forged documents and a flight from neighboring Serbia.

His arrest was part of a large-scale operation led by Poland aimed at exposing a Russian-linked network suspected of being behind the sending of explosive packages on cargo planes across Europe. Explosive devices hidden in the shipments caused fires at three locations. Polish investigators suspect that Bezrukavyi was part of an even more ambitious plan to send explosives to the United States and Canada, giving a sabotage campaign that Western intelligence agencies accuse Moscow of carrying out a dangerous and global turn.

The fear was justified. Western security officials have warned that such shipments could have caused plane crashes and mass casualties, the Guardian writes. When word of the planned operation reached Washington, concern was such that senior Biden administration officials contacted their Russian counterparts directly, asking Vladimir Putin to halt the mission.

"A serious blow to the Russian sabotage network"

Three months later, on February 13, Bezrukavyi was extradited to Poland. A photo of a man in handcuffs and with chains around his ankles, who is being escorted off the plane by two masked members of the security services, has appeared in public.

"A Russian who was hiding in Bosnia and Herzegovina, suspected of coordinating sabotage against Poland, the USA and other allies, has been extradited to Poland and arrested by order of the court," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on the X platform.

Poland's interior minister called the extradition "a serious blow to the Russian sabotage network in Europe."

 

The exclusive report, based on the first known interviews with two direct participants in the operations, testimonies from people close to Bezrukavyi's group, and current and former Western intelligence sources, reveals previously unknown details about how the sabotage campaign worked and the extent of the international search for the organizers.

 

Who is really running the Russian operations?

The report also raises an important question about the hierarchy within today's Russian intelligence operations. Increasingly, operatives remain in Moscow, while the dangerous work on the ground is left to intermediaries and recruits, often with minimal knowledge of the real targets. The Polish state prosecutor's office says Bezrukavyi will be charged with "coordinating acts of sabotage in Poland and other countries, including setting fires and sending packages with incendiary materials via courier services."

Bezrukavyi himself, in conversations with close contacts, claims that he did not know what he was doing, that he was simply following instructions received via the Telegram app, without realizing what he was actually transporting. Similar claims have been made by others in the group. “They used us as blind mules,” one of them told the Guardian. “They set us up.”

Manhunt Across Europe

Alexander Bezrukavyi hails from Rostov-on-Don, a city in southern Russia near the Ukrainian border. Court records show he has a long criminal record, having been charged with a range of violent offences, including illegal possession of weapons, burglary, robbery and drug offences. According to those who knew him in Russia, he made a significant amount of money smuggling goods in eastern Ukraine, particularly cigarettes, which he smuggled from Donetsk into Russia across the border controlled by pro-Russian separatists.

In 2019, he was briefly arrested and charged with membership in an organised crime group, but managed to escape before being recaptured. He sought refuge in Kharkiv, Ukraine, a city that later came under attack by Russian forces. He was allegedly in hiding during the war, then fled to Moldova on 17 February 2024, according to leaked border records.

Shortly afterwards, he entered the Schengen area via Croatia, and then obtained residency in Spain, entering into a fictitious marriage with a Ukrainian citizen. “He couldn’t return to Russia because he was still wanted, so he stayed in Europe, waiting for the charges to be dropped,” his wife Natalya told the Guardian by phone, which has a copy of his Spanish residence permit.

 

From Spain to Warsaw – and straight into sabotage

After Spain, Bezrukavyi settled in Warsaw, where he spent time with a group of Ukrainian acquaintances. He shared an apartment on the outskirts with Vyacheslav Chabanenko, a stocky man from Kharkiv known by the nickname “Ponchik.” He too had a dark past, having reportedly served five years in prison in Russia for domestic violence.

The group was also joined by Serhiy Yevseyev from Lutsk, Ukraine, who would later be arrested in connection with the operation.

In the summer of 2024, they began looking for jobs on a Russian-language Telegram channel, often used by Ukrainian refugees. Among the ads, they came across a user with the nickname VWarrior, who Polish authorities believe is an operative for Russia’s GRU military intelligence service. VWarrior offered “courier” jobs, for several hundred dollars per shipment.

One of the group’s associates, who spoke to the Guardian under the pseudonym Kiril, described how the entire network worked. He secured cars for the operation and hid outside Europe. “The packages were strange, vibrators from China, lubricants, cosmetics. At first we thought it was small-scale smuggling,” says Kiril.

Via Telegram, VWarrior sent them lists of goods to buy, pack, and ship across Poland and Lithuania. In several cases, the shipments were sent via DHL. Payment was made exclusively in cryptocurrencies. “Maybe there was some dark side to it all,” Kiril admits. “It was an easy way for us to get money, without drugs or weapons, but in the end it turned out we were testing some f**king thing.”

It later became clear to Polish investigators that at least one of the packages contained an incendiary device, disguised among sex toys, made of chemicals like magnesium.

 

Explosions in three cities and the denouement of the operation

In July 2024, three packages sent from Lithuania exploded in Birmingham, Leipzig and near Warsaw. Western security services immediately suspected a Russian intelligence network, especially since the incidents followed a series of similar sabotage, cyberattacks, fires and damage to underwater infrastructure.

The fourth package, which did not explode, turned out to be crucial. It was sent by a Ukrainian named Vladislav Derkavec from Vilnius and was presented as a shipment of cosmetics and sex toys. The police found it intact and analyzed the contents: the tubes of gel were actually filled with a flammable mixture, including nitromethane.

A photo of the package shows massage pillows, cosmetics and sex toys stacked on a mattress. The crypto payment was made via Tether, and the amount was $960. Although it is not entirely clear which group sent the three explosive packages, all the shipments had similar contents and were part of the same network. The operation was apparently coordinated by the same man, VWarrior.

 

Suspicious shipments to the US and Canada

In early August, Bezrukavyi and Chabanenko bought sportswear and sneakers and, on VWarrior's instructions, sent the packages to fictitious addresses in Washington and Ottawa. The Polish authorities were immediately suspicious - sending American goods across the Atlantic with expensive shipping costs made no sense.

They quickly concluded that the packages did not contain explosives, but were a test shipment intended to test how quickly and efficiently the shipment could reach North America. All this in anticipation of possible future operations.

When the information reached Washington, there was a worried reaction at the highest levels. “It is not clear whether Russian services were aware that a large part of the cargo shipments were being carried on passenger planes,” said a former US security official.

“An explosion in flight could have catastrophic consequences.” Senior US officials contacted their Russian counterparts directly and urged Putin to halt the operation. According to the sources, the calls bore fruit.

 

The network collapses, Bezrukavyi flees

Four days later, Polish police raided an apartment in Warsaw and arrested Chabanenko. New arrests then began, Yevseyev fled to Spain, but was arrested there and extradited to Poland. Derkavec was arrested in Poland, while Kiril is hiding outside Europe. He is wanted on an Interpol red notice for "sabotage and espionage of a terrorist nature".

Bezrukavyi was out shopping at the time. His friends warned him, so he didn't even try to return home, he fled immediately. First to Slovakia, and then he hid in Bosnian villages. He told his wife that he would rather be arrested in Russia than continue to hide in Europe.

But on the soil of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Polish intelligence tracked him down again. His wife claims that it was a misunderstanding. "He is innocent. All this is a terrible nightmare," she said.

Warsaw has taken the case seriously, with the head of Poland’s domestic intelligence service even traveling to Sarajevo to personally negotiate the extradition, a source close to the case confirmed. At the same time, Russia has also requested extradition, citing an old indictment from 2019. The Kremlin often uses such old cases as a legal basis for the return of its citizens, especially those related to intelligence work.

 

Russian Espionage Freelancers

Unlike the classic GRU operatives who previously operated in Europe, Bezrukavyi does not wear the classic insignia of an intelligence officer. But this is precisely the new pattern: due to sanctions and travel restrictions, Moscow is increasingly using intermediaries with criminal records.

“Russian agents rarely leave their homeland these days. They outsource their work, often via Telegram,” said one European official.

These intermediaries may be unaware of what they are doing, or they may be conscious coordinators who recruit others. One Western official is convinced that Bezrukavyi knew he was working for the GRU. He recruited acquaintances, often with criminal records and in dire financial straits.

Kiril says he did not suspect espionage, but admits he does not know what Bezrukavyi knew. "Maybe he knew more. But I do not believe he did it for ideology. I have known him all my life, he was always after money," he said. He added: "If Russia continues with these methods, there will be more arrests. There will always be those looking for easy money, and those who will know how to use it."