Despite being pitch black, it was hard not to spot US President Joe Biden's Boeing on February 19, having just arrived at Rzeszow-Jasionka airport in southeastern Poland. Yet few noted his presence on this provincial tarmac which, since February 2022 and the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, has become an international hub through which nearly 80% of military and humanitarian aid to that country transits. The trip had been kept secret, and Biden soon headed to the Polish town of Przemysl. From there, he took a train to Kyiv, where his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, awaited him.

The local media had to wait until his return the following evening to obtain brief footage of him boarding the Boeing and taking off for Warsaw. What both the journalists and the intelligence services didn't know was that other miniature cameras had been hidden around the airport by members of a clandestine cell acting under the orders of the Russian domestic intelligence services (FSB).

Likely set up in late 2022, this cell has one specialty: Gathering information on support for Ukraine. Among its priority missions, set by an FSB officer, was the surveillance of Rzeszow-Jasionka airport. The location is of major strategic interest because it's where Washington has deployed 13 Patriot anti-aircraft missile batteries. Dozens of Western civilian and military aircraft pass through it every day, transporting equipment that is then loaded onto trucks or trains on their way to the Ukrainian border an hour away. It is also a required stopover for foreign political leaders on the way to Kyiv, as they have had no choice but to take the train since Ukraine's civil airspace was closed.

GPS trackers and mini-cameras

Along the airport's runway are military infrastructures run by the United States. A few American troops, recognizable thanks to their beige Humvees, live together with armed private security guards in a large logistics camp. Four Black Hawk helicopters are parked nearby. Tarpaulins try to hide them from curious onlookers, but ordinary trucks that transport sensitive equipment cans can still be discerned. A focus on being discreet and the desire to escape Moscow's spies can be felt everywhere.

The FSB unit is interested in all forms of aid transport to Ukraine. It is also trying to place GPS trackers on convoys and install cameras along railroads and roads to record and transmit traffic data. By the time of Biden's surprise visit in February, several dozen of these mini-cameras were already active. They were placed on the A4 freeway towards Przemysl, where German Leopard tanks mounted on semi-trailers could be seen heading to Ukraine.

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