Why Was a Kazakh Military Attache's Assistant Detained in Poland?
Kazakhstan's Defense Ministry confirmed this week that an employee of the Kazakh military attaché's office has been detained in Poland. Kazakh authorities have not named the individual or provided any further details. The confirmation came two weeks after Polish authorities announced they had detained a Central Asian citizen on charges of espionage.
On August 1, Poland's Internal Security Agency (ABW) announced that a citizen of 'one of the Asian countries established after the fall of the Soviet Union' had been detained on allegations of espionage. 'He was identified as a military intelligence officer operating under diplomatic cover in a European country,' the ABW's statement read.
On X, formerly Twitter, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk acknowledged the arrest, characterizing the individual as 'acting against Poland and our allies…'
Kazakh media outlets – including KazTAG, Orda, and Elmedia – have reported additional details, including naming the individual, citing sources that The Diplomat is unable to independently verify at this time.
On August 11, KazTAG reported that the individual detained was an assistant military attaché at the Kazakh embassy in Ukraine. Elmedia commented that the individual's 'diplomatic immunity was valid only in Ukraine, but nothing prevented him from being detained and charged in a third country.'
Kazakhstan's military attaché in Ukraine is listed on the embassy's website as Bakytzhan Begimbayevich Kisentayev. The individual who was detained in Poland is presumably his assistant. Orda claimed that the individual graduated from a military academy in Russia.
At this juncture, based on what little has been stated officially by Kazakh and Polish authorities, what Kazakh media outlets have reported to date, and a few swipes with Occam's razor amid a three-year war in Ukraine, it appears that the detained individual may have been spying on behalf of Russia in Ukraine.
This, of course, puts Kazakhstan in an awkward position. Astana has deftly walked a careful tightrope since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, espousing time and again its support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Kazakhstan, which shares an extensive border with Russia, understands quite well Ukraine's position. Certain Russian nationalists have long questioned Kazakhstan's statehood in the same tone they used to dismiss Ukraine's independence.
Yet, at the same time, Kazakhstan maintains close relations with Russia at every level, and this closeness – in economic, military, political and social terms – presents risks.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 8, in the wake of U.S. Special Envoy Steven Witkoff's visit to Moscow – and ahead of hotly anticipated summit in Alaska between Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump scheduled for August 15.
Three days later, on August 11, Tokayev spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Readouts from that call make no mention of the alleged spy detained in Poland, but reiterated Kazakhstan's 'firm position in support of a lasting and just peace in Ukraine based on the norms and principles of international law, including the provisions of the U.N. Charter, the inviolability of borders and the territorial integrity of states.'
Tokayev stressed Kazakhstan's advocacy of a peace formula that 'would take into account the interests of all parties and ensure the long-term security of Ukraine.' But, he apparently added, 'it is especially important to act in a balanced and rational manner, guided by the ancient wisdom: 'a bad peace is better than a good quarrel.''
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