Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski did not hide the seriousness of the situation after the sabotage on the Polish railway network. “This was not an act of sabotage as before, but state terrorism, as its clear aim was to cause human casualties,” Sikorski said on Wednesday in the parliament in Warsaw.
“A foreign country sent well-prepared saboteurs, who only by sheer luck did not achieve their goal,” added the head of Polish diplomacy and accused the Russian military intelligence service GRU of hiring people for “dirty work.” He then announced to the journalists that the Russian consulate in Gdańsk, the last remaining Russian consular post in Poland, will soon be closed.
Tusk: The most serious incident since the beginning of the war in Ukraine
A day earlier, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the incident “probably the heaviest blow to the country’s security since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.” He emphasized that “a certain limit has been crossed”.
From midnight on all railway lines in Poland, the second highest alert level – the Charlie level – is in effect. The regulations provide for 24-hour security of important railway facilities, as well as arming the guards with live ammunition. Tightened security measures should be in place until the end of February.
Polish security forces needed only 70 hours to identify the suspects in both acts of sabotage. On Sunday morning, the train driver on the Warsaw–Lublin line near Mika stopped the train due to serious damage to the rails and alerted the Polish State Railways (PKP) administration. Soon after, another damage was discovered near Puławy on this strategically important railway route that leads from the Polish capital to the border with Ukraine.
Two Ukrainians in the service of Russia
The suspects are two Ukrainian citizens who cooperated with the Russian intelligence service for a long time. Their identity is known. One was sentenced in his country in May in Lviv for sabotage, while the other comes from Donbass in the east of Ukraine. Both of them entered Poland from Belarus in the fall. After the attack, they allegedly left Poland via the Terespol border crossing and returned to Belarus, Tusk said.
As the newspaper Rzeczpospolita wrote on Tuesday, investigators found the fingerprints of one of the assassins and the SIM card from his phone at the scene. The explosion was supposed to be recorded with a mobile phone. It is also stated that the intelligence services of friendly countries helped in the investigation.
The investigation shows that three explosive devices were placed near Mika, only two of which detonated on Saturday night. They are activated with the help of a 300 meter long cable. The explosive power proved too weak to destroy the freight train it was aimed at. The train driver didn’t even notice the explosion. However, the condition of that part of the track worsened with each passing train, until it became dangerous on Sunday.
At Puławi, a steel clamp was installed that was supposed to cause the train to derail, but it turned out to be ineffective. In addition, the contact network was also damaged. The passenger train had to slow down, but no one was injured.
Poland as a target
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Poland has repeatedly been the target of sabotage. The Polish government has been supporting Ukraine since the beginning – it sent weapons and humanitarian aid, and more than a million Ukrainians found refuge in the neighboring country.
In the parliament, Tusk reminded that a paint factory was set on fire in Wrocław in January 2024. A fire was set in a shopping center in Warsaw. A total of 55 people were arrested on suspicion of arson, of which 23 are in custody. Recently, eight people were arrested on suspicion of spying on strategic objects.
Online hate campaign against Ukraine
On social networks, after the publication of information about sabotage, a hate campaign against Ukraine broke out. “It is a perfidious game of the Russian intelligence services, which manage these campaigns,” said the deputy speaker of the parliament, Piotr Zgorzelski, to TVN.
Tusk also warned against Russian disinformation. The Russian leadership cares not only about the immediate consequences of such actions, but also about the social and political ones. “It means: disintegration, chaos, panic, speculation, uncertainty.” Hiring Ukrainians to carry out sabotage also aims to encourage anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Poland. Polls show that Poles’ support for Ukraine has been declining for some time.
Sikorski announced that Poland will ask Belarus to extradite the suspects, although the chances are slim. He also said that Poland does not plan to break diplomatic relations with Russia. However, Russian diplomats will have to seek permission from Polish authorities to travel outside the Warsaw area. Sikorski will advise Polish allies to ban Russian diplomats from free movement through the Schengen zone.
The Kremlin rejected Tusk’s accusations. “Russia is being accused of all forms of hybrid and direct warfare,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state television. In his opinion, it would be strange if Russia was not immediately accused this time. Poland is always the first in this. “In this regard, Russophobia is blooming there in full glory,” Peskov said.
(Vijesti.ba)
