Vincent V. Severski: “Krawiec” (“The Tailor”, 2025)

The work

According to the publisher’s description, in 2003 a Russian agent turns up in Warsaw and drags Polish counterintelligence into a chain of events. At the centre is a young woman, the nanny in the household of Prime Minister Feliks Wirski; the investigation is handed to Roman Leski and the novice Monika Arent. Meanwhile, a secret MI6 team is at work in Budva on the Adriatic, where Russian oligarchs on their yachts – among them the billionaire Alexander German – are allegedly plotting against the Russian president.^1,2

The materials for foreign publishers add that the intrigue builds towards a bomb attack intended to be blamed on the British and to destabilise the Polish government, and that the ending shows the personal cost of intelligence work.²

The real background

In the referendum of 7–8 June 2003 Poles approved the ratification of the Accession Treaty: turnout was 58.85%, and 77.45% of valid votes were in favour.³

The publisher’s description ties the plot to that year, to the secret preparations for the US-led operation in Iraq and to diplomatic tensions between the West and Russia.¹

According to media and secondary accounts · not confirmed by official sourcesAccording to the publisher’s note, after 1990 the author served in the Office of State Protection and the Foreign Intelligence Agency, leaving in 2007, so the time of action falls within his years of service. He does not, however, claim to describe real cases: he says he only makes sure that the plot is “possible”.^4,5

What is accurate and what is invented

The year, the referendum and the general background are real. Prime Minister Feliks Wirski, the oligarch German, the plot and the attack are fictional; we do not link the characters to real politicians.^1,2