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Russia plans to sow chaos with attacks on air transport in Poland and elsewhere, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned.
His comments are the latest indication of what security experts charge is a campaign of sabotage and intimidation inspired by Moscow that began last year.
“The latest information can confirm the validity of fears that Russia was planning acts of terrorism in the air not only against Poland,” Tusk told a news conference alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Warsaw on Wednesday.
Moscow has denied involvement in a number of mysterious explosions and breakages that have bedevilled western leaders over the past year.
Experts warn the evidence suggests Russia was behind explosions at logistics depots in Europe last summer, which may have been a dry run in terror attacks on cargo flights to the US.
The explosions occurred in depots in Britain, Germany and Poland in July. Tusk did not mention them specifically.
In April, two German-Russian nationals were arrested in Bavaria for allegedly plotting to attack military and logistics sites in Germany on behalf of Russia.
The same month, two men were charged with having started a fire at a warehouse in the UK containing aid shipments for Ukraine. English prosecutors accused them of working for the Russian government.
In October, Germany’s domestic spy chief said a plane narrowly avoided crashing after a parcel destined for its hold burst into flames before the flight in a suspected act of sabotage. Thomas Haldenwang warned of a dramatic increase in “aggressive behaviour” by Russian agents.
Nine people were arrested in Poland last year, suspected of plotting sabotage attacks in Europe in co-ordination with Russian intelligence. The Polish government has also increased its vigilance regarding Moscow-backed influence operations targeting its presidential election in May, following Romania’s unprecedented decision last month to cancel its vote due to Russian interference.
Poland, which took over the EU rotating presidency on January 1, will push “to accelerate the accession path” of Ukraine to the bloc, Tusk said.
Kyiv applied for EU membership soon after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 and has started accession talks. Those negotiations are expected to last several years before the 27 member states will decide on the country joining the bloc.
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