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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, says that the findings of prosecutors in neighbouring Lithuania indicate that Russia was behind a fire last year that destroyed Warsaw’s biggest shopping centre.
The Warsaw fire was part of a series of acts of sabotage in Poland and other countries in the region that the authorities have blamed on Russia, whose intelligence services recruited and hired people living in those countries – often Ukrainian and Belarusian immigrants – to carry out the attacks.
Litewska prokuratura oświadczyła, że za podpaleniami w Wilnie i w Warszawie ( Marywilska) stoją rosyjskie służby specjalne. Zgodnie z naszymi podejrzeniami. Podobnie jak przy próbie podpalenia fabryki farb we Wrocławiu, Rosjanie wynajęli obywateli Ukrainy. Wyjątkowa perfidia.
— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) March 17, 2025
On Monday morning, Artūras Urbelis, the chief prosecutor at the department of organised crime and corruption of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Lithuania, announced that they believe a fire at an IKEA store in Vilnius last year was a terrorist act organised and financed by Russia.
They have brought an indictment against a Ukrainian citizen accused of carrying out the attack. His suspected co-perpetrator, also Ukrainian, is currently in detention in Poland as part of parallel proceedings into acts of sabotage, said Urbelis, quoted by Lithuanian state broadcaster LRT.
The chief prosecutor added that Lithuania is “transferring part of the case to Polish colleagues”. The two countries have established a joint investigative team to examine cases of sabotage planned and carried out on their territories.
In their statement, Lithuanian prosecutors noted that the suspect they have in detention – who was a minor at the time of the crimes – had met in Poland with his alleged co-conspirator, aged under 20, to plan acts of arson in Lithuania and Latvia as part of a “pre-established organised terrorist group”. He was to be paid €10,000.
“These are young people who clearly lack life experience, who found themselves in a rather difficult financial situation,” said Urbelis, quoted by Polish news website Interia. Such individuals are ideal targets to recruit for such tasks, he added.
Subsequently, during preparations for his attacks, “the accused repeatedly visited Poland and Lithuania [and] collected and transmitted information important for planning terrorist acts to other members of the group via encrypted communication channels”, say the prosecutors.
A Belarusian man has been charged in Poland with carrying out a terrorist act on behalf of Russia.
The suspect is accused of setting fire to a large retail store in Warsaw as part of a broader sabotage campaign orchestrated by Moscow https://t.co/orGiAQePRb
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 12, 2025
Soon after the announcement in Lithuania, Polish media reported that the Lithuanian prosecutors’ findings also indicate that Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, was behind a fire that completely destroyed Marywilska 44, Warsaw’s largest shopping centre, in May 2024.
“It is clear that the individuals and perpetrators we have identified are also linked to crimes committed in Poland,” said Urbelis, quoted by the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
Tusk himself then took to social media to say that “the Lithuanian prosecutor’s office stated that the Russian security services were behind the arson attacks in Vilnius and Warsaw (Marywilska)”. This, he added, was “in line with our suspicions”.
In a separate post in English, Tusk wrote that the latest information was “good to know before negotiations”, referring to US-led efforts to end the war in Ukraine. “Such is the nature of this state [Russia],” added the Polish prime minister.
It is “likely” that Russia was involved in the fire that recently destroyed Warsaw’s largest shopping centre, says Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
However, he added that investigations are still ongoing https://t.co/SipJtSLIpQ
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) May 21, 2024
Last week, Poland charged a Belarusian national, named only as Stepan K. under Polish privacy law, with carrying out a terrorist arson attack in Warsaw on behalf of Russia.
They noted that the fire was ignited in a very similar manner to the one at Marywilska, which took place just a month later. They also revealed that the case against Stepan K. was linked to an investigation into other arson attacks on large stores not only in Poland but elsewhere in central and eastern Europe.
Last year, Poland ordered one of Russia’s consulates to close and its staff to leave the country in response to what it says are acts of sabotage and cyberwarfare being carried out by Moscow.
Poland has ordered a Russian consulate to close and its staff to leave the country in response to what it says are acts of sabotage and cyberwarfare being conducted by Moscow.
"Russia is conducting hybrid warfare against Poland," says the foreign ministry https://t.co/7ztvOAuFJZ
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 22, 2024
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Dariusz Borowicz / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
