Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused Russia on Wednesday of planning worldwide acts of sabotage, including “acts of air terror” targeting airlines.
Tusk made the remarks during a news conference in Warsaw, where he was joined by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“I will not go into details, I can only confirm the validity of fears that Russia was planning acts of air terror, not only against Poland, but against airlines around the world,” Tusk said.
Tusk referenced incidents from summer 2024 involving incendiary devices placed in parcels that ignited at logistics hubs in Birmingham, UK, and Leipzig, Germany.
According to media reports, one device was in a package ready for loading onto a plane in Leipzig, and another ignited mid-transit in Birmingham. Investigations linked the devices to parcels originating in Lithuania.
Western intelligence officials, including U.S. sources cited by The New York Times, believe Russia’s GRU military intelligence orchestrated these attacks as a trial run for broader operations. The devices, described as magnesium-based incendiary bombs, could have caused catastrophic in-flight fires, potentially leading to crashes.
U.S. intelligence reportedly intercepted conversations among Russian officials discussing the devices.
Poland’s allegations align with broader claims of Russian aggression, including incidents such as the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine and a 2024 crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan, which killed 38 people.
The Kremlin has earlier dismissed Western claims as baseless. While Russia has been repeatedly accused of employing hybrid warfare tactics, including GPS jamming, infrastructure sabotage, and cyberattacks against its enemies, Moscow has denied involvement in the parcel bomb incidents and other sabotage allegations.
The Russian Foreign Ministry did not respond to specific requests for comment on Tusk’s accusations.
