WARSAW: Fake cosmetics, massage pillows and sex toys. Crude homemade explosives. A Russian known as Warrior. A code word: Mary.These are among the key elements of a suspected Russian-run sabotage plot that led to three parcels being detonated at courier depots in Britain, Germany and Poland last summer, a person with knowledge of the Polish investigation told media. The pillows, packed into the parcels with the cosmetics and sex toys, contained hidden homemade incendiary devices made of a cocktail of chemicals including highly reactive magnesium, according to the person familiar with the case who provided the most granular account yet of the alleged plot.
The chemicals were ignited by pre-timed detonators adapted from cheap Chinese electronic gadgets used to track items like lost keys, with the effect enhanced by the tubes of what looked like cosmetics but in fact contained a gel made of flammable compounds including nitromethane, according to the source.
“The proceedings in this case concern criminal activities inspired by Russia’s GRU,” this person said, referring to Moscow’s foreign military intelligence agency.Media is reporting the details of the investigation for the first time, drawing on the account provided by the source close to the Polish case as well as interviews with more than a dozen European security officials.
The findings provide a rare insight into how sabotage campaigns play out on the ground.European security chiefs made the parcel fires public in October, describing them as part of a “hybrid war” being waged by Russia to destabilize the functioning of countries that support Ukraine, involving tactics like arson and cyberattacks.
They said the parcels - which caught alight in warehouses, causing fires but not hurting anyone - were a dry run for a future Russian plot to detonate similar packages in midair on cargo flights to the United States and Canada.
“With the war in Ukraine, these attacks have intensified, they became more frequent, more assertive,” said Nicu Popescu, Moldova’s deputy prime minister and foreign secretary until early last year and now distinguished policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations think-tank.
“Of course, this poses a risk to people, to citizens across the European Union.”The Kremlin rejected the accusation of Russia having a hand in the fires. “We know nothing about it,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told media.
“We do not rule out that this is just more fake news or a manifestation of blind Russophobia.”The Kremlin said European allegations of a Russian sabotage or hybrid campaign were wholly unsubstantiated. The GRU didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The package detonations took place on July 19, 20 and 21 in the British city Birmingham, Leipzig in Germany and near the Polish capital Warsaw.