WARSAW, Poland -- Polish prosecutors said Wednesday that they formally indicted a Russian-Spanish man on espionage charges, after Poland freed him from prison earlier this month so that he could be included in a prisoner swap between Russia and the West.

Pavel Rubtsov, known as Pablo González , was apprehended on Feb. 28, 2022, days after Russia initiated its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in Przemysl, a Polish city bordering Ukraine. He had presented himself as a Spanish freelance journalist and was submitting reports to Spanish media outlets. He had resided in Poland since 2019.

He remained in custody in Poland until his inclusion in the prisoner swap on Aug. 1, and is currently in Russia. It remains unclear why Poland waited to formally charge him until after he left the country.

Born Pavel Rubtsov in 1982 in what was then Soviet Moscow, González moved to Spain with his Spanish mother at the age of 9, where he became a citizen and adopted the Spanish name Pablo González Yagüe. He pursued a career in journalism, working for publications including Público, La Sexta, and Gara, a Basque nationalist newspaper.

Sir Richard Moore, the head of Britain's foreign intelligence agency MI6, stated at the Aspen Security Forum in 2022 that González was an “illegal” who was apprehended in Poland after “posing as a Spanish journalist" and that he was attempting to enter Ukraine to participate in Russian efforts to destabilize the country.

The term “illegal” applies to spies operating under unofficial cover, meaning they lack diplomatic protection.

Based on investigative journalism, the individual also sought connections with Russian dissidents residing outside the country and had ties to Basque and Catalan separatist movements, suspected of having links to the Kremlin.

The national prosecution office in Warsaw announced that a prosecutor in Lublin submitted the indictment on August 9 to the District Court in Przemysl. They identified the accused as Pablo G. Y. and Pavel R., withholding surnames in accordance with Polish privacy regulations. However, the details strongly suggest the case involves Rubtsov, suspected of being a GRU agent.

The defendant faces charges related to espionage, which carries a potential prison sentence of three to 15 years.

It remains unclear whether Rubtsov will be tried in his absence.

The statement alleges that the defendant provided information to Russian military intelligence between April 2016 and February 2022 in Przemysl, Warsaw, and other locations, “which could harm the Republic of Poland, including as a NATO member state.”

The statement also alleged that the activities involved "disseminating false information and conducting reconnaissance operations."

The national prosecutor’s office said separate investigations are underway into an unspecified number of individuals suspected of being involved, including a woman identified only as Magdalena Ch. The woman, known to Polish journalists as the former girlfriend of the accused, declined to comment.