Poland's investigation into the devastating shopping centre fire points to Moscow's direct involvement and escalating diplomatic tensions.
**Poland Accuses Russia of Orchestrating Warsaw Shopping Centre Fire Through Social Media Recruitment**
**Poland Accuses Russia of Orchestrating Warsaw Shopping Centre Fire Through Social Media Recruitment**
In a stunning revelation, Poland’s Foreign Minister outlines evidence linking Russia to a strategic arson incident.
Poland's foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, has claimed that the country possesses evidence indicating that Russia recruited individuals via the Telegram messaging platform to execute a massive fire at the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw last year. In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Sikorski condemned Russia's actions as "completely unacceptable," noting that this incident has resulted in the closure of a second Russian consulate within Poland's borders.
The fire, which occurred in May 2024, led to the destruction of 1,400 small businesses, severely impacting many members of Warsaw's Vietnamese community. According to Sikorski, the perpetrators were incentivized financially to carry out the attack, marking a significant intrusion into Poland’s internal security.
"We have evidence that they commissioned people living in Poland, they commissioned them on Telegram and paid them to set fire to this huge shopping mall," Sikorski stated. He emphasized the miracle of no casualties, deeming the act entirely intolerable.
In response to these troubling developments, Sikorski has orchestrated additional measures to curtail Russian diplomatic presence in Poland, shutting down the consulate in Krakow amidst concerns of espionage. Currently, only one Russian consulate and the embassy remain open, following a series of accusations of sabotage and cyberwarfare directed at Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refuted Poland's claims, denouncing them as "Russophobic" and asserting that the allegations are unfounded. Peskov further criticized the reduction of diplomatic ties as part of a broader trend of hostility from Poland.
The ongoing conflict between Poland and Russia has escalated since the latter's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with numerous arrests of individuals purportedly acting on behalf of Russian intelligence. Poland's Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, revealed that some individuals connected with the fire are in custody, while others remain at large.
The incident has amplified concerns over the safety of small business owners, many of whom lost critical documentation and cash due to the fire, instigating a shift with traders relocating to a new shopping centre, Modlinska 6D, inaugurated in October last year. As tensions mount, Sikorski's advisory hints at further measures if such "hybrid attacks" persist, posing a complex challenge to Polish-Russian relations.
