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Poland has charged a Belarusian with espionage and sabotage on behalf of Russia following an arson attack on a large retail store in Warsaw last year.
The national prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday that the suspect, identified only as Stepan K, could face between 10 years and life in prison if found guilty of burning down part of the hardware store last April and working for Russian intelligence.
The vandalism, which caused damage estimated at 3.5mn zlotys (€840,000), is one of several arson attacks in Poland and other countries in the region linked to Russia, including one last May on the largest shopping mall in Warsaw.
Poland and Lithuania have set up a joint investigation team to help combat such acts of sabotage.
Poland also closed down the Russian consulate in the city of Poznań last autumn after accusing its officials of spying and helping prepare sabotage attacks.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused Russia in January of planning a terrorist campaign against airlines in the country and worldwide, following explosions that occurred in logistics depots in Britain, Germany and Poland.
Tusk’s government also claims that Poland is the European country most targeted by Russian disinformation and cyber attacks. It holds its presidential election in May.
Stepan K is being held in custody for three months while awaiting trial. Polish media said he posed as a Belarusian opposition activist who had escaped the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko.
Lukashenko has been one of the main supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The two have been accused by Warsaw and Brussels of launching a “hybrid war” against the EU by encouraging migrants to cross from Belarus into Poland.
The Belarusian suspect had already been arrested last year alongside “several other people” in connection with another probe into a criminal group operating in Poland and accused of recruiting people for sabotage activities, according to the prosecutor’s office statement on Wednesday.
Tusk’s government has pledged to complete a border wall and seal off its frontier with Belarus by next summer, which Warsaw says is needed to stop a migration crisis and prevent Russia from sending across spies.
Last month Bosnia agreed to extradite to Poland a suspected Russian intelligence officer whom Warsaw has accused of plotting sabotage operations, possibly targeting airlines.
Polish interior minister Tomasz Siemoniak said the deportation amounted to “a serious blow” to the Russian sabotage network in Europe.
