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Russian military intelligence was at the origin of a fire in an Ikea store in Vilnius last year and at least one of the suspects is linked to other sabotage events in Eastern Europe, according to prosecutors in Lithuania.
Artūras Urbelis, chief prosecutor of Lithuania for organized crime, said that Russia was linked to the Ikea criminal fire and other incidents through a chain of intermediaries.
“The organizers of these actions are Russia. It is linked to military information, security forces, “said Urbelis on Monday.
Russia is accused of sabotage across Europe by a large number of Western intelligence officials after a number of fires, parcel bombs and acts of vandalism in recent months. Officials said Russia often pays people, including low -level criminals to carry out attacks.
A Polish court last month sentenced a Ukrainian man to eight years in prison for planning sabotage and criminal fire acts on behalf of Russia. Polish authorities last week charged with a criminal fire against a DIY department store in Warsaw on behalf of Russian information. In the United Kingdom, a man pleaded guilty last year for accepting the salary of foreign intelligence when he set fire to a company belonging to Ukrainian in eastern London.
Keir Giles, principal researcher at Chatham House, described the attacks since the sting of isolated pins, but said that the hybrid war by Russia could present a serious risk.
“If you delete the random noise of apparently useless vandalism such as attacks against Ikea and shopping centers, and are rather focusing on targeted recognition and damage to communications and logistical infrastructure, it becomes clear how damn this campaign could be damaging and when it transmits to mass coordinated attacks.”, He said.
The authorities also examine whether Russia is behind a number of more important sabotage acts in the Baltic Sea in the past two years after gas pipelines and electricity and data cables have been cut by ship anchors.
The Kremlin denied the charges of European hybrid war governments.
Prosecutors in Lithuania treat the IKEA fire as an act of terrorism and believe that the authors are two Ukrainian citizens.
A suspect was arrested last May when he was on his way to the Latvian capital Riga to carry out a similar criminal fire attack, According to Lithuanian prosecutors. The suspect, who was undergoing at the time of the attack, agreed to be paid € 10,000 for attacks in Vilnius and Riga, they added.
The suspect then placed an incendiary device in the Ikea store on the evening of May 8 with a timed fuse which took place around 4 am the next day. The suspect had already returned to Warsaw where they received a BMW 530 as a reward for having completed the task, the prosecutors added.
The second suspect is currently detained in Poland and part of the investigation will be transferred to the Polish authorities, Urbelis said. The suspects also seem to be linked to criminal acts committed in Poland, he added.
The Lithuanian prosecutor said IKEA had been deliberately chosen because the furniture retailer had closed all his stores in Russia.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the Lithuanian prosecutors’ office “confirmed our suspicions” that Russian security services were responsible for set fire to shopping centers in Vilnius and Warsaw. ” Good to know before negotiations. This is the nature of this state, ”he wrote on X.
An Estonian courtyard Condemned seven people Last year to vandalize cars belonging to the Minister of the Interior of the country and a journalist on Russian intelligence instructions.
Additional Charles Clover report in London
