Kazakhstan’s opposition media outlet Base, which released a dedicated video about the exposed diplomat on August 16, 2025, reports that Russia, not Kazakhstan, was interested in his activities.“This photo shows an unremarkable person. A Kazakh. Calm eyes, careful haircut. An ordinary family man. His eldest son is five. The younger is not yet two,” the article says.According to Base, Anuar Kairatuly Bakibay was born on December 9, 1987, in Pavlodar, Republic of Kazakhstan. He graduated from the Military Engineering Institute of Radio Electronics and Communications of the Ministry of Defense of Kazakhstan in 2011.In Kyiv, he was considered an assistant military attaché, with accreditation until April 2027 and diplomatic immunity. He lived with his family and moved freely within Ukraine and the European Union.“But on July 29, everything changed. Bakibay traveled to Poland, and on July 30, Polish authorities arrested him in the city of Bydgoszcz on suspicion of espionage,” journalist Nataliya Sadikova reported in a “Base” segment.According to Sadikova’s sources, Bakibay attempted to collect information on NATO military facilities in the EU:“Insiders claim he spied not only in Poland but also in Ukraine — for the benefit of the Russian Federation. He could not have been detained in Ukraine due to his immunity. At most, he could have been stripped of accreditation and deported. The Ukrainian side stayed one step ahead: they quickly passed the information to their Polish colleagues, and the ‘subject’ was apprehended in the EU, where his diplomatic protection did not apply.”Uncle and nephewThe detainee is reportedly the nephew of Colonel Kisentaev Bakitzhan Begimbayevich, the military attaché at Kazakhstan’s embassy in Ukraine, Sadikova notes.According to insiders, Kisentaev, Bakibay, and another embassy staffer were formally independent from the embassy:“They had their own budget, separate communication channels, and freedom of movement. They did not live in the embassy but in rented apartments with their wives, unlike other diplomats, who are not allowed to bring their families.”According to Nataliya Sadikova, she tried to contact Kisentaev, but his phone was turned off. It is possible that he has already left Ukraine, the Base report says.In early August 2025, Poland’s Interior Minister Tomasz Semoniak announced the arrest of a citizen from one of the former Soviet republics in Asia, emphasizing that he is a “professional military intelligence officer” who conducted operations from March 15 to July 30 in Warsaw and Bydgoszcz.The National Prosecutor’s Office charged the detainee, and on August 1, 2025, the court ordered his arrest for three months.Kazakhstan’s authorities confirmed the arrest but did not provide any details about the suspected diplomat in their official statement.