British and Lithuanian authorities have detained people on suspicion of carrying out intelligence-related activities on behalf of Russia in the latest of a string of incidents allegedly linked to Moscow.
Lithuanian prosecutors say they have uncovered a network of suspects who allegedly detonated explosive packages across Europe on behalf of the Russian secret service.
The Lithuanian suspects are said to have sent packages containing homemade explosive devices to other European countries via courier services, the prosecutor general's office in its capital, Vilnius, said in a statement on Wednesday.
In a separate incident, British police arrested three people in Essex, near London, on Thursday on suspicion of assisting a Russian intelligence service.
The highly flammable explosive substance, thermite, was allegedly hidden with timed detonators inside massage cushions and tubes of cosmetics.
The packages were then posted by a Lithuanian citizen on July 19th of last year, prosecutors say.
Two shipments were sent from Vilnius to Britain by DHL cargo planes, and the other two were sent to Poland by DPD trucks.
One of them caught fire at the DHL logistics centre in Leipzig, Germany, where it was in transit the statement says.
Another package detonated on July 21 last year in a DPD truck travelling through Poland, and a third the following day in a DHL warehouse in the English city of Birmingham, according to investigators.
The fourth package failed to detonate due to a technical defect, according to the authorities' statement.
Attacks linked to Russia
A total of 15 people — citizens of Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine — are suspected of organising and carrying out the alleged attacks.
An international arrest warrant has been issued for three people, the authorities said.
The statement did not say how many people had been arrested in total.
The Lithuanian prosectors said their investigation revealed that the attacks had been organised and coordinated by Russian citizens with links to the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU.
During the investigation, more than 30 searches were carried out in Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, and Estonia, during which further incendiary devices were found.
European security officials have previously alleged that Russian intelligence is carrying out sabotage against their nations in retaliation for their support for Ukraine in the ongoing war.
Britain also allege Russian spying
British police have also arrested three people suspected of assisting a Russian intelligence service.
Two men, aged 41 and 46, and a woman aged 35, were arrested in Essex on Thursday.
They were accused of offences under the National Security Act, which was brought in two years ago to target threats from foreign states.
"Through our recent national security casework, we're seeing an increasing number of who we would describe as 'proxies' being recruited by foreign intelligence services," head of London police's Counter Terrorism Command, Dominic Murphy said.
London has repeatedly accused Russia or its agents of being behind spy plots and sabotage missions in Britain and across Europe, with the British domestic spy chief, Ken McCallum, saying Russian operatives were trying to cause "mayhem".
The Kremlin has denied the accusations, saying the British government repeatedly blamed Russia for anything "bad" that happens in Britain.
In July, three men were found guilty of an arson attack on Ukraine-linked businesses in London which British officials said had been ordered by Russia's Wagner mercenary group, with two others admitting their involvement in the attack.
That followed the conviction in March of a team of Bulgarians for being part of a spy unit being run on behalf of the Kremlin.
"Two young British men are awaiting sentencing after they were recruited by the Wagner Group — effectively the Russian state — to carry out an arson at Ukrainian-linked warehouse," Mr Murphy said.
"They are facing potentially lengthy custodial sentences, although, to be clear, today's arrests are in no way connected to that investigation."
AP/ Reuters
