Indictment for terrorism

Russia behind fire at Ikea furniture store

(Bild: © 2014, Ken Wolter stock.adobe)

After an arson attack on an Ikea furniture store in Vilnius last year, Lithuania's judicial authorities are certain that Russia was behind it. Charges have been brought for a suspected terrorist attack.

A fire broke out at the furniture giant on the night of May 9, 2024. Fortunately, no one was injured. In the course of the investigation, the security authorities later expressed suspicion of arson.

The investigations also revealed that the two people arrested in the case were acting on behalf of Russian military intelligence, the General Prosecutor's Office of the Baltic EU and NATO country in Vilnius announced.

The suspects and their intermediaries are also believed to be connected to similar crimes in Poland. Lithuania and Poland belong to NATO and are close partners and supporters of Ukraine, which has been defending itself against a Russian invasion for a good three years.

Car as reward
According to the General Prosecutor's Office, the two detainees are two young Ukrainian citizens, one of whom is still a minor. The two suspects are said to have agreed at a secret meeting in Warsaw to set fire to shopping centers in Lithuania and Latvia for a reward of 10,000 euros. They were promised a car as a reward, which they later received. One of them is currently being held in Poland, prosecutor Arturas Urbelis told Lithuanian media.

"The organizer of these actions is Russia"
 According to the public prosecutor's office, the arson was planned over several months and carried out using an incendiary device with a time fuse. "The organizer of these actions is Russia, they are linked to military intelligence and the security forces," said investigator Urbelis.

The accused is said to have systematically acquired special knowledge and the necessary skills before the crime. He is said to have repeatedly spent time in Poland and Lithuania for this purpose. According to the Lithuanian investigators, he also drove to Warsaw in a car after the arson attack. He returned to Lithuania a few days later and wanted to travel on to Latvia by bus. On the way there, he was stopped by the authorities and arrested, the public prosecutor's office announced.

Link to crimes in Poland
According to the public prosecutor's office, there are other suspects who may have been involved in the arson attack. He spoke of a "terrorist group" and a long chain of middlemen who coordinated themselves via various social networks and encrypted communication channels and passed on instructions to the suspects. Both the suspects and their middlemen are said to have a connection to crimes committed in Poland.

The Polish government has repeatedly accused the Russian secret service of being behind arson attacks and acts of sabotage in Poland. Last May, for example, a major fire in Warsaw destroyed a shopping center with around 1400 stores. No one was injured, but more than 700 people lost their jobs or livelihoods. Investigations are underway on suspicion of arson.

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X: "Dear allies, Lithuanian investigators have confirmed our suspicions that the Russian secret service is responsible for arson attacks on shopping centers in Vilnius and Warsaw." It was good to know this before the negotiations with Russia on a ceasefire in Ukraine. "That is the character of this state," said Tusk with regard to Russia.