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18th March 2025
11:27am GMT
Russian spies have been accused of orchestrating an arson attack on an Ikea furniture store in Lithuania 'because it had the same colours as the Ukrainian flag'.
The fire broke out in a store in the capital of Vilnius in May last year and officials suspect it was targeted due to the colours of the brand.
Lithuanian prosecutors say they uncovered evidence that Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency – which the UK blames for the Salisbury poisonings – controlled a chain of 20 middle-men involved in the attack.
The chain allegedly ended in two Ukrainian teenagers who were bribed to take part with €10,000 (£8,400) and a used BMW.
The GRU is accused of masterminding a growing sabotage campaign which includes a blaze which destroyed 1,400 units in a Polish shopping centre three days after the Ikea fire.
Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister said Lithuania had 'confirmed our suspicions that responsible for setting fires to shopping centres in Vilnius and Warsaw are the Russian secret services’.
He added: "Good to know before negotiations. Such is the nature of this state."
Several Nato countries have accused Russian secret services of sabotage plots across Europe, but the Kremlin denies these allegations.
Nato member, Lithuania have been a steadfast ally of Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
The country's state prosecutor Arturas Urbelis said the suspects were hosted at a ‘secret meeting in Warsaw’, and may not have known exactly who they were working for.
They allegedly agreed to 'set fire to' and 'blow up' shopping centres in both Lithuania and neighbouring Latvia.
Ubelis 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.
"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."
Nobody died in the attack but Lithuania has classified it as an act of terrorism.
He said: "Ikea’s colours are the same as Ukraine’s flag – this has strong symbolic meaning."
Lithuanian prosecutor’s office added in a statement: "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 destabilising the most important political, economic and social structures of the state."
