Polish minister cites possible Russian involvement in recent fires

4 months ago 18

Russia may have been involved in the recent spate of major fires in Poland, including one at one of Warsaw’s biggest department stores, Polish Justice Minister Adam Bodnar has said.

Poland has been hit by a wave of fires in recent days, the biggest of which broke out Sunday night at the huge Marywilska 44 shopping centre in Warsaw’s Białołęka district, almost completely destroying it.

One fire burned the roof of a school in Grodzisk Mazowiecki during final exams on Monday, forcing the evacuation of about 60 people.

In an interview with private broadcaster Polsat News, Justice Minister Bodnar (Civic Coalition, EPP) addressed reports by some investigative agencies that Russia could launch attacks on European infrastructure.

“The war is in our neighbourhood, and a hybrid war is ongoing. Even the worst-case scenarios cannot be ruled out,” said Bodnar.

He cited the recent arrest of a man suspected of spying on the airport in Rzeszów or a person preparing an attack on a factory near Wroclaw. “There are many such cases,” the minister said.

But Bodnar was reluctant to confirm that the fires were arson. “It would be unwise of me to talk about it with full confidence,” he stressed.

“Every large fire, every disaster may be an element of sabotage activities directed from the East,” wrote Witold Zembaczynski, a Civic Coalition MP and a member of the parliamentary National Defence Committee, on X.

At a press conference on Monday attended by Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, the Polish authorities said that an investigation had been launched into the fires. However, they said there was no point in combining the cases because “each fire was different”.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)