Polish PM accuses Russia of plotting ‘acts of terror’ against airlines

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused Russia on Wednesday of orchestrating global acts of sabotage, including “acts of air terror” targeting airlines.

Speaking at a news conference in Warsaw alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Tusk said he could confirm the validity of “fears that Russia was planning acts of air terror, not only against Poland, but against airlines around the world.”

The Kremlin has previously dismissed Western allegations of sponsoring sabotage and attacks in Europe as unfounded.

Western security officials, however, suspect Russian intelligence of plot to put incendiary devices in packages on cargo planes bound for North America after one such package caught fire in Germany and another ignited a warehouse in the UK last year.

Poland’s pro-European Union government has previously accused Russia of waging hybrid warfare against Western countries as retaliation for their support of Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.

The Polish government also claims Russia and its ally Belarus are behind a migration crisis along the EU’s eastern border with Belarus, which he argues is aimed at creating chaos and division within the EU.

In response to such acts Poland’s foreign minister last year ordered the closure of one of the three Russian consulates in the country.