Russian spies have been accused of orchestrating an arson attack on an Ikea furniture store in Lithuania last 12 months.
The fireplace broke out in May in a store within the capital of Vilnius, which officials suspect could have been targeted because Ikea uses the identical colors because the Ukraine flag.
Lithuanian prosecutors say they uncovered evidence that Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency – which the UK blames for the Salisbury poisonings – controlled a series of 20 middle-men involved within the attack.
The chain allegedly resulted in two Ukrainian teenagers who were bribed with €10,000 (£8,400) and a used BMW.
The GRU is accused of masterminding a growing sabotage campaign which incorporates a blaze which destroyed 1,400 units in a Polish shopping centre three days after the Ikea fire.
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said Lithuania had ‘confirmed our suspicions that answerable for setting fires to shopping centres in Vilnius and Warsaw are the Russian secret services’.
‘Good to know before negotiations. Such is the character of this state,’ he added.
Quite a few Nato countries have repeatedly accused Russian secret services of sabotage plots across Europe, allegations which the Kremlin denies.
Lithuania is a Nato member and has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in 2022.
Lithuanian state prosecutor Arturas Urbelis said the suspects were hosted at a ‘secret meeting in Warsaw’, and should not have known exactly who they were working for.
There they allegedly agreed to ‘set fire to and blow up’ shopping centres in each Lithuania and neighbouring Latvia.
‘It is clear that the individuals we have now identified, the perpetrators and the intermediaries, are also linked to the criminal acts committed in Poland,’ Mr Urbelis added.
‘The chain includes the organisers, then more organisers for certain goals, then more intermediaries, all right down to the perpetrators. It’s a multi-stage, very complex system,’ he told reporters.
No person died within the attack, but Lithuania views it as an ‘act of terrorism’, Mr Urbelis added.
‘Ikea’s colors are the identical as Ukraine’s flag – this has strong symbolic meaning,’ he continued.
‘These terrorist acts were aimed toward severely intimidating the society of each countries, illegally forcing the Republic of Lithuania, the European Union and other states to scale back or terminate their support for the Republic of Ukraine, in addition to destabilising a very powerful political, economic and social structures of the state,’ the Lithuanian prosecutor’s office added in a press release.
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