Another allegation emerged this week that Moscow was planning sabotage attacks in Europe as part of its hybrid war against Ukraine and its allies. Lithuanian Presidential adviser Kęstutis Budrys said on Tuesday that the gruntRussia’s military intelligence organization was responsible for a plot to place incendiary devices on civilian cargo planes.

Budrys said Gitanas Nausėda, president of Lithuania, demanded NATO action saying: “The Presidency confirms that Russian military intelligence is behind the transport of incendiary packages, and we are telling our allies that it is not random, it is part of (Moscow’s) military operations. . “This requires a NATO response.”

Lithuania’s statement referred to the discovery of the Russian plot after an incendiary device sent for shipment to the US ignited at a DHL courier warehouse in Leipzig, Germany, in July. According to the Polish media Gazeta Wyborcza, two similar devices worked at a transport company near Warsaw and in Minworth, near Birmingham, in the United Kingdom.

Lithuania’s Prosecutor General Nida Grunskiene said some of the packages came from Lithuania and that arrests had been made for which a pre-trial investigation was being carried out in coordination with law enforcement agencies in other countries.

The Wall Street Journal, citing Western security officials, said that “two incendiary devices, shipped via DHL, were part of a covert Russian operation that ultimately aimed to start fires aboard cargo or passenger planes. who flew to the United States and Canada.”

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The devices, described as “personal massagers filled with an incendiary magnesium mixture,” were linked to “plot by suspected Russian agents to smuggle incendiary devices onto a cargo plane in Germany, in what is believed to have been a test for future attacks.” directed at planes bound for North America,” an anonymous European security official told the Washington Post.

An explosives expert said magnesium-based fires are difficult to extinguish without specialized firefighting equipment that is not normally carried aboard civilian aircraft.

The same source said investigations following the July incident, after the device was turned on prematurely, found that identical packages minus the flammable contents addressed to destinations in the United States and Canada had been intercepted. It is believed that this was “an apparent test to see if the packages could be delivered successfully.”

Meanwhile, the BBC cited a statement by Katarzyna Calow-Jaszewska of Poland’s prosecutor’s office as saying that “four people were charged in relation to camouflaged explosives that ‘detonated during land and air transport’ in the UK in July.

The statement said: “The group’s activities consisted of sabotage and diversion related to the shipment of packages containing camouflaged explosives and hazardous materials via courier companies to countries in the European Union and Great Britain, which spontaneously ignited or detonated during land and air transportation, and also to test the transfer channel for said packages, which ultimately had to be sent to the United States of America and Canada.”

“We are aware of two recent incidents involving shipments in our network,” a DHL official said in a statement. “We are cooperating fully with the relevant authorities to protect our people, our network and our customers’ shipments.”

US officials told military affairs website War Zone that “the United States continues to remain vigilant about threats to aviation and air cargo systems.” They cited the 2025 US National Threat Assessment which says: “We work closely with industry to take protective measures against any potential threats as they arise. “At this time, there is no active threat directed at flights bound for the United States.”

While some security experts view the plot “as a provocative and particularly dangerous escalation in an alleged Moscow-led sabotage campaign against NATO countries helping Ukraine defend itself against a Russian military invasion,” there is little direct evidence that link him to the Kremlin or Moscow intelligence. device, despite the Lithuanian declaration.

Some commentators say they see no logic in this being an attack inspired by the Russian government and question why President Vladimir Putin would take such a risk and what the ultimate goal would be. Having packages explode on cargo planes could disrupt the commercial logistics effort, but would have negligible impact on the battlefield, since weapons and military materiel are transported on military aircraft.

However, attributing logic to the Kremlin’s actions has often been an exercise in futility. After almost three years of war in ukraine One could argue that there is no logic in continuing a “special military operation” that appears to have failed in its objectives. However, government and civil security officials are paying attention to the threat and instituting appropriate countermeasures.