A Polish LOT plane was ordered to taxi back to its starting position on Monday evening. Russian security officers boarded and arrested a Russian dissident, Andrey Pivovarov, Polish media reported.
Pivovarov, a former executive director of Open Russia, passed border control at Pulkovo airport in St.Petersburg and boarded the plane. The plane was stopped during taxiing. At that time, the opposition activist was arrested by the Russian services.
"The fact that the Russians detained him in this way is a clear demonstration of hostility towards Poland. This is the main fact of this event. He could be arrested in any other way. However, it is not the fact that he was arrested, but the political message contained in the way he was done, that is, taking him out of the Polish plane." - says Prof. Przemysław Żurawski vel Grajewski, political scientist.
