Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused Russia on Wednesday of planning a major terrorist campaign against airlines worldwide.
„I can only confirm that Russia has planned acts of aerial terrorism, not only against Poland, but also against airlines worldwide,” Tusk said during a meeting with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, according to POLITICO.
Tusk did not provide details about his claim regarding Russian terrorist attacks on aircraft.
His statement comes after The New York Times reported that American intelligence services warned the White House that Russia intends to introduce incendiary devices into cargo planes heading to the U.S. The White House, according to the Times, warned the Kremlin to halt the operation.
President Joe Biden's team sent a message to Vladimir Putin, informing him that they had uncovered the Russian intelligence services' plan to introduce incendiary devices into transport planes heading to the U.S.
The Biden administration warned Putin to take action for Russian intelligence services to abandon this plan.
Moscow has been accused previously of sabotaging European transport infrastructure and jamming GPS signals in several countries, as part of a hybrid war campaign by Russian leader Vladimir Putin against the continent.
In April 2024, Czech Transport Minister Martin Kupka warned that Russia had undertaken "thousands of attempts" to attack all European railways since the beginning of the war against Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the accusation "baseless."
Most recently, Russia has been accused of shooting down an Azerbaijani passenger plane that crashed in Kazakhstan.
- Kremlin tries to bury accusations of shooting down the crashed plane in Kazakhstan
- Reuters: The crashed plane in Kazakhstan was shot down by a Russian air defense system
- Azerbaijan's President accuses Russia of shooting down the crashed plane in Kazakhstan, demands acknowledgment of guilt and payment of compensation
Russia has long engaged in a wide range of aggressive behaviors and sabotage against Europe, also using cyber capabilities to target civil infrastructure.
Up to 100 incidents that occurred in 2024 on the continent may have been caused by Russia, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said in December.