After detaining ‘Polish spies’ in Kaliningrad, the FSB released their alleged messages in Polish. Native speakers say they contain errors and unnatural phrasing.

Polish-language messages released by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) alongside its announcement that Polish citizens had been detained in the Kaliningrad region have raised doubts among native speakers, the news outlet Agentstvo reported.On November 11, the FSB said a Polish intelligence “spy network” had been operating in the Kaliningrad region and that two “agents” had been detained on espionage charges.Russian authorities allege that the detainees collected and passed on information about Russian military personnel and Defense Ministry facilities. Two statements (1, 2) from the regional court confirm that both detainees are Polish citizens. One was arrested back on July 30, while the other was detained on October 28.The FSB also released a video of the detainees that showed part of a WhatsApp exchange between a “Polish intelligence agent and his handler.” According to the FSB’s translation, the “agent” and “handler” were discussing the appearance, age, and rank of an officer working at the border.On Polish-language X, the person behind the account KrzysiekWSK drew attention to screenshots from the FSB video. Agentstvo also asked two native Polish speakers to examine the exchange. They identified the following problems:Both participants make mistakes.The odd expression “robić rozmowy” (translated by the FSB as “communicates”) is not used in Poland.“Na granice” (translated by the FSB as “at the border”) appears instead of “na granicy.”“Napiewnie” (translated by the FSB as “probably”) appears instead of “na pewno,” as does “na powrocie” instead of “po powrocie” (“after returning”).“No, it doesn’t sound like native Polish. It looks like a translation, especially the green messages. The white messages sound more natural,” one of the native speakers told Agentstvo.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.