Last month, a Polish court convicted three Ukrainian nationals for taking part in an organized criminal group directed by Russian intelligence to carry out sabotage and terrorist attacks in Poland and other European countries.
The case is part of a wider investigation into a Russian-linked sabotage network believed to be behind a series of arson attacks across the European Union.
These include an April 14, 2024, fire at an OBI store in Warsaw, a May 9, 2024 blaze at an Ikea outlet in Vilnius, and a May 12, 2024 fire that destroyed the Marywilska 44 shopping center in Warsaw.
"In the case of Russian sabotage, it is mainly about money," said Kinga Redłowska, head of the Centre for Finance and Security Europe at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), in an interview with public broadcaster Polish Radio.
"There is no ideology—it's simply money," she told Polish Radio's Danuta Isler. "The scary thing is that the money is not really big. The saboteur is just setting a fire somewhere and he does not even know that the aim is for this fire to spread to critical infrastructure."
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