Russia is behind the IKEA attack, the deliberate burning in Lithuania, the general prosecutors say

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The Russian military intelligence was behind a fire in the IKEA store in Vilnius last year, and at least one of the suspects was associated with other sabotage events in Eastern Europe, according to the prosecutors in Lithuania.

Arthur Orebes, LithuaniaThe chief prosecutor of the organized crime said that Russia was linked to the IKEA fire and other incidents through a series of brokers.

“The organizers of these measures are Russia. Urbeis said on Monday:” It is linked to military intelligence, to the security forces. “

Russia was accused of vandalism throughout Europe by a large number of Western intelligence officials after a number of fires, parcel bombs, and sabotage in recent months. Officials said Russia often pays people, including low -level criminals, to carry out attacks.

Last month, a Polish court sentenced an Ukrainian man to eight years in prison for planning sabotage and intentional burning on behalf of Russia. Polish authorities last week He accused the Belarusian With a deliberate attack on a large DIY store in Warsaw on behalf of Russian intelligence. In the United Kingdom, a man last year acknowledged that he was guilty of accepting wages from foreign intelligence when setting fire to a Ukrainian company owned in East London.

Kiir Giles, his oldest colleague in Chatham House, described the attacks as much as the “isolated Pinpricks”, but said that the hybrid war by Russia may constitute a serious risk.

“If you strip the random noise of sabotage, such as IKEA attacks and shopping centers, and focus instead on the targeted survey and damage to communications and logistical infrastructure, it becomes clear how this campaign can be a damage if it is transferred to coordinated attacks.”

The authorities are also investigating whether Russia is behind a number of larger sabotage in the Baltic Sea in the past two years after the gas, electricity and data pipes have been cut by shipping.

The Kremlin denied the accusations of European governments of the hybrid war.

Lithuania’s general prosecutors treat the IKEA fire as a terrorist act and believe that the perpetrators are Ukrainian citizens.

One of the suspects was arrested last May while he was on his way to the Latvian capital, Riga, for a similar attack, According to the Lithuanian public prosecutors. They added that the suspect, who was suffering from a shortage of age at the time of the attack, agreed to pay 10,000 euros for both Vilnius and Riga attacks.

Then the suspect put a burning device at the IKEA store on the evening of May 8, with its timing, which set out at about four in the morning the next day. Prosecutors added that the suspect had already returned to Warsaw, where they received a BMW 530 as a reward to complete the task.

Urbeis said the second suspect is currently being held in Poland and part of the investigation will be transferred to the Polish authorities. He added that the suspects seem to be associated with criminal acts committed in Poland as well.

The Lithuanian Prosecutor said that IKEA was deliberately chosen because the furniture retail dealer closed all its stores in Russia.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that the Lithuanian Public Prosecutors Office “confirmed” our complaints “that Russian security services were responsible for setting fire to the shopping centers in Velanis and Warso.” It is good to know this before the negotiations. This is the nature of this country, ”wrote on X.

Estonian court Condemned Last year, the sabotage of cars belonging to the country’s interior minister and journalist on Russian intelligence instructions.

Additional reports by Charles Clover in London