Russian agents set fire to Lithuanian Ikea ‘because its colours are the same as the Ukrainian flag’

Dear allies, the investigation of the Lithuanian prosecutor’s office has confirmed our suspicions that responsible for setting fires to shopping centres in Vilnius and Warsaw are the Russian secret services,

he wrote on X. Good to know before negotiations

This is an important tool that the Russians are using in coordination with their conventional war in Ukraine,

said Seth G. Jones, the author of the study and a former adviser to the U.S. military

I have not seen a U.S. target in the last couple weeks, ... so they appear to be holding off from U.S. targets right now.”

Mr. Jones said

They are clearly making concrete decisions of whom they go after and whom they don’t go after,

Mr. Jones said of Russia

We don’t see a lot of people dying right now,

he said

Good to know before negotiations. Such is the nature of this state."

Tusk added

The chain includes the organisers, then more organisers for certain goals, then more intermediaries, all down to the perpetrators. It is a multi-stage, very complex system."

He said

Ikea's colours are the same as Ukraine's flag - this has strong symbolic meaning."

He said

It has been established that through a series of intermediaries … the organisers of these crimes are in Russia and this is connected to military intelligence and security forces,

Urbelis said

It is obvious that the persons we have identified, the perpetrators and the intermediaries, are also linked to the criminal acts committed in Poland,

he added

More than one supermarket has been set on fire, and not just supermarkets,

Urbelis said when asked about whether the arson was linked to similar cases in neighbouring Poland

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we have indeed observed an increase in the activity of foreign services in Poland, including primarily the services of Russia.”

The Polish prosecutor Przemyslaw Nowak said

During a secret meeting in Warsaw, he and another person agreed to set fire to and blow up shopping centres in Lithuania and Latvia for a reward of €10,000 (nearly $11,000),

the office said in a statement

Unfortunately, we have evidence that in Poland, and not only in Poland, there are several organised groups that plan and carry out acts of sabotage,

he added

We regard this act as an act of terrorism with serious consequences,

prosecutor Arturas Urbelis told reporters

These terrorist acts were aimed at severely intimidating the society of both countries, illegally forcing the Republic of Lithuania, the European Union and other states to reduce or terminate their support for the Republic of Ukraine, as well as destabilizing the most important political, economic and social structures of the state,

it said