{"id":893,"date":"2025-03-17T19:44:02","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T20:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/?p=893"},"modified":"2025-03-18T23:07:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T23:07:49","slug":"russian-spies-bombed-ikea-because-it-has-the-same-colours-as-ukraines-flag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/17\/russian-spies-bombed-ikea-because-it-has-the-same-colours-as-ukraines-flag\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian spies \u2018bombed Ikea because it has the same colours as Ukraine\u2019s flag\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"Litvienia\t<\/div>
An Ikea sign above another branch of the furniture giant in Lithuania (Picture: Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Russian spies have been accused of orchestrating an arson attack on an Ikea furniture store in Lithuania last year.<\/p>\n

The fire broke out in May in a store in the capital of Vilnius, which officials suspect may have been targeted because Ikea uses the same colours as the Ukraine flag.<\/p>\n

Lithuanian prosecutors say they uncovered evidence that Russia<\/a>\u2019s GRU military intelligence agency \u2013 which the UK blames for the Salisbury poisonings \u2013 controlled a chain of 20 middle-men involved in the attack.<\/p>\n

The chain allegedly ended in two Ukrainian teenagers who were bribed with \u20ac10,000 (\u00a38,400) and a used BMW. <\/p>\n

The GRU is accused of masterminding a growing sabotage campaign which includes a blaze which destroyed 1,400 units in a Polish shopping centre three days after the Ikea fire.<\/p>\n

Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said Lithuania had \u2018confirmed our suspicions that responsible for setting fires to shopping centres in Vilnius and Warsaw are the Russian secret services\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018Good to know before negotiations. Such is the nature of this state,\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"FILE\t<\/div>
Poland\u2019s prime minister said Lithuania had \u2018confirmed\u2019 his country\u2019s suspicions that Russia is behind arson attacks in Warsaw and Vilnius (Picture: Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A number of Nato countries have repeatedly accused Russian secret services of sabotage plots across Europe, allegations which the Kremlin denies.<\/p>\n

Lithuania is a Nato member and has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Russia\u2019s invasion in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Lithuanian state prosecutor Arturas Urbelis said the suspects were hosted at a \u2018secret meeting in Warsaw\u2019, and may not have known exactly who they were working for.<\/p>\n

There they allegedly agreed to \u2018set fire to and blow up\u2019 shopping centres in both Lithuania and neighbouring Latvia.<\/p>\n

\u2018It is obvious that the persons we have identified, the perpetrators and the intermediaries, are also linked to the criminal acts committed in Poland,\u2019 Mr Urbelis added.<\/p>\n

\u2018The chain includes the organisers, then more organisers for certain goals, then more intermediaries, all down to the perpetrators. It is a multi-stage, very complex system,\u2019 he told reporters.<\/p>\n

Nobody died in the attack, but Lithuania views it as an \u2018act of terrorism\u2019, Mr Urbelis added.<\/p>\n

\u2018Ikea\u2019s colours are the same as Ukraine\u2019s flag \u2013 this has strong symbolic meaning,\u2019 he continued.<\/p>\n

\u2018These terrorist acts were aimed at severely intimidating the society of both countries, illegally forcing the Republic of Lithuania, the European Union and other states to reduce or terminate their support for the Republic of Ukraine, as well as destabilising the most important political, economic and social structures of the state,\u2019 the Lithuanian prosecutor\u2019s office added in a statement.<\/p>\n

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Ikea sign above another branch of the furniture giant in Lithuania (Picture: Shutterstock) Russian spies have been accused of orchestrating an arson attack on an Ikea furniture store in Lithuania last year. The fire broke out in May in a store in the capital of Vilnius, which officials suspect may have been targeted because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russia-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=893"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":897,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893\/revisions\/897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}