Polish authorities accused Russian intelligence services on Sunday of having sponsored a fire that destroyed a large hall with shops last year in Warsaw.
Since the start of the Russian aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, Poland, a faithful ally of kyiv, said that he is the target of attempted acts of sabotage orchestrated, according to her, by Russia.
In May last year, a fire completely destroyed in the Polish capital a large hall with 1400 small shops, mainly detained by members of the Vietnamese community. The authorities immediately launched a major investigation, but had previously refused any questioning of Moscow.
“We will all have you!”
“We now know, on the basis of the evidence collected, that the fire is the result of a criminal fire ordered by the Russian special services,” the Ministries of Justice and the Interior said on Sunday, head of special services, in a joint statement published on X.
Warsaw indicates in this press release to have “in -depth knowledge of the order and the course of the fire and the way in which it was documented by the authors”.
“Their actions were organized and led by an identified person residing in the Russian Federation,” said the text. According to the press release, “some of the authors are already in detention, the others are identified and sought after”.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed this information on the social network X, launching: “We will all have you!”. Polish services have further said to cooperate “with Lithuania, where some of the authors have also carried out diversion activities”.
“Hybrid war”
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Poland has arrested and sentenced several people suspected of sabotage acts on behalf of Russian intelligence services, and accused of tobacco, fire or attempted criminals.
In May 2024, Poland decided to impose restrictions on the movements of Russian diplomats on its soil due to the “involvement” of Moscow, in “a hybrid war”. And five months later, Warsaw ordered the Russian consulate in Poznan (west), accusing Moscow of organizing “sabotage attempts”.
In December, Polish diplomacy declared itself ready to close all the Russian consulates in Poland, if acts of “terrorism” continued. In fact of reprisals, Russia closed the Polish consulate in Saint Petersburg in January.
Border of Ukraine, Poland – a member of NATO and the European Union – is one of the main countries by which Western states transport weapons and ammunition to kyiv, to help him fight against the Russian invasion.
