Western intelligence suspects Russia of trying to ignite fires on flights to US and Canada – WSJ

Western intelligence services have reported that Russia has conducted a covert operation intending to cause fires on cargo or passenger planes bound for the US and Canada by sending two incendiary devices via DHL.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Details: The devices exploded at DHL logistics centres in Leipzig (Germany) and Birmingham (England) in July. 

Investigators and spy agencies in Europe discovered that the devices were constructed as electric massagers filled with a magnesium-based flammable substance. 

Security officials and individuals familiar with the investigation concluded that this was part of a broader Russian plot.

According to WSJ, the electric massagers sent from Lithuania to the UK appeared to be an attempt to test how to smuggle such incendiary devices onto planes headed for North America. 

Lithuanian police arrested a suspect who had sent four incendiary devices, including two from a DHL store in Vilnius, Lithuania. The suspect identified himself as Igor Prudnikov, though his real name is believed to be Alexander Suranovas. The investigators suspect he was a Russian intelligence proxy.

When WSJ reached out for comment, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated, "We have never heard any official accusations" towards Russia, adding that it was "traditional unsubstantiated insinuations from the media".

European authorities claimed that Russia was behind a sabotage campaign, including arson attacks in the UK and Czechia, assaults on pipelines and data cables in the Baltics and interference with water supplies in Sweden and Finland.

A few months after the DHL fires, leaders of both UK intelligence agencies spoke about Russian sabotage operations. Richard Moore, the head of MI6, stated in September that Russian spy agencies had "gone a bit feral in some of their behaviour". 

Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, warned of Russia's increasing recklessness a month later, organising "arson, sabotage and more. Dangerous actions conducted with increasing recklessness"..

Background: Earlier this year, the United States and Germany disrupted a Russian plan to assassinate the CEO of Rheinmetall, a major arms manufacturer that supplies Ukraine.

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