Russia plotted to put incendiary devices on cargo planes, officials say
RUSSIA has been plotting to place incendiary devices on cargo planes in Europe and even performed a test run this summer, setting off fires at shipping hubs in Britain and Germany, according to four Western officials briefed on intelligence about the operation.
The effort represents a potentially significant escalation of the Kremlin’s sabotage operations against Western adversaries.
The goal of the plot, orchestrated by Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, is not entirely clear, according to two of the officials, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters. It could have been what ultimately occurred: to set fires with incendiary devices placed at logistics hubs belonging to package shipping company DHL, perhaps meant to instill fear or deliver a warning.
But Western intelligence agencies are also investigating whether Russia intended something more ambitious, and menacing, such as destroying planes on American runways, setting off bombs at US warehouses or even blowing up aircraft midair. Officials said that both the US and its European allies were potential targets of the Russian plot.
The operation is an effort by Russian President Vladimir Putin to inflict damage on the West for its support of Ukraine’s military, officials said. The Kremlin’s goal appears to be to shake Western backing for Ukraine or, failing that, exact a price for it.
“Hostile activity carried out on behalf of the Russian Federation is increasingly taking the form of terrorist activities,” Poland’s domestic intelligence service said in a communiqué published last month.
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The Kremlin has denied that its agents engage in sabotage.
The incendiary devices were planted at DHL shipping hubs in Leipzig, Germany, and Birmingham, England, the Western officials said. The fires caused minimal damage and no injuries, they said, but the blazes raised the frightening specter of bombs potentially being loaded on aircraft.
Last month, Polish authorities announced the arrests of four suspects involved in planting the incendiary devices.
The country’s National Prosecutor’s Office said the plot had been part of a test run with the ultimate goal of putting explosive devices on planes bound for the United States and Canada, though the Western officials could not confirm this was the intent.
Over the last several months, the Transportation Security Administration in recent months has added “security measures for US aircraft operators and foreign air carriers regarding certain cargo shipments bound for the United States,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement to The New York Times. NYTIMES
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