Media reported about the sentencing in Poland of a Russian hockey player

Authorities in Poland have handed down a sentence against Russian ice hockey player Maxim Sergeyev, 21, after accusing him of alleged espionage activities. As reported on December 18 by French newspaper L'Equipe, the athlete received 2 years and 11 months in prison.

In addition, the Polish Hockey League defender will have to pay a fine of €1220. According to the media, in May 2025, Poland should deport the hockey player to his home country. Until then, he will be held in Lublin prison.

Also seized from Sergeyev were money he received allegedly for his work as a spy and 7.28 grams of marijuana. Polish portal Hokei.net adds that the young Russian athlete recently defended the colors of the hockey club "Zaglembe" from the city of Sosnowiec.

Before that, on November 23, former Polish judge Tomasz Schmidt , prosecuted in his home country on espionage charges, in a conversation with Izvestia thanked Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for granting him asylum in Minsk. Schmidt shared that he had already been to the Russian Federation three times and liked it very much, and people treated him friendly.

The former judge said that Russians asked why the Polish authorities were hostile to the Russian Federation. He noted that in fact Warsaw has no claims to Moscow and the only problem that spoils relations between the two states is the very strong influence of the USA, as well as Great Britain and Germany, on Polish politics.