The family of Russian national Alexander Mashovets has denied that he worked for any intelligence service after his detention in Poland. His sister said photographing railway vehicles, aircraft and other forms of transport had been his passion since his youth.

Radio Svoboda reported the family’s account on Sunday, November 1. Mashovets’ social media page contains numerous transport photographs, while some of his images were also published by RailGallery, a website focused on railways.

Polish authorities detained Mashovets in Świdnica, Lower Silesia, on Friday, October 30, as he photographed passing trains and railway infrastructure. Investigators said his electronic devices held hundreds of thousands of files, including images of transport facilities in Poland and other countries.

A court placed Mashovets in custody for three months on suspicion of collecting information for a foreign intelligence service. Separately, RailGallery administrators Denis Yeskov and Anatoly Nagorny were arrested in Moscow on October 19 and charged under a Russian law concerning unlawful interference with critical information infrastructure.