According to media reports, one of the attendees at the Karpacz Economic Forum is Yuri Voskresenskyi, allegedly a Belarusian KGB officer specialising in extracting information from political prisoners.

The Economic Forum is an annual international meeting of representatives of the economic and political circles of Central and Eastern Europe. The presence of a Belarusian agent in Karpacz, south-western Poland, prompted Michał Dworczyk, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, to intervene.

“This matter needs to be clarified by the organisers… If the reports prove true, conclusions will certainly be drawn,” he stated.

When asked whether Polish intelligence services were aware of Mr Voskresenskyi’s presence at the forum, the official answered that he only found out about it from social media on Tuesday evening.

He added that he was sure no one had intentionally invited a KGB operative to the conference.

Mr Voskresenskyi’s attendance at the forum was first reported by Belarusian opposition journalist Tadeusz Giczan from the NEXTA channel.

According to the journalist, Mr Voskresenskyi said he had been invited because the Poles wanted to “rebuild bridges” with Belarus.

Poland’s relations with Belarus are currently under pressure because of a migrant crisis on both countries’ common border.

Later on Wednesday Poland’s Foreign Ministry wrote on Twitter that Poland had neither invited Voskresenskiy to the forum nor had it issued him a visa. The ministry said Poland honoured visas issued by other countries to persons not subject to sanctions.