---
title: "Poland says Russian secret service behind 2024 fire in Warsaw shopping centre"
description: "WARSAW, May 11 (Reuters) - Russian secret services were behind a massive fire that nearly completely destroyed a Warsaw shopping centre in May 2024, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Sunday after a year of investigation into the case."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Newsdeck"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-05-11-poland-says-russian-secret-service-behind-2024-fire-in-warsaw-shopping-centre/"
published: "2025-05-11T21:13:31"
updated: "2025-05-11T21:13:33"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 240
---

# Poland says Russian secret service behind 2024 fire in Warsaw shopping centre

> WARSAW, May 11 (Reuters) - Russian secret services were behind a massive fire that nearly completely destroyed a Warsaw shopping centre in May 2024, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Sunday after a year of investigation into the case.

By Reuters · Published 11 May 2025, 23:13 SAST · Updated 11 May 2025, 23:13 SAST

## Key points
- In a fiery twist of fate, Polish officials have fingered Russian services as the masterminds behind a recent arson spree, proving once again that when it comes to sabotage, Moscow's playbook is anything but original.
- Polish officials confirm that the recent fire in Marywilska was a coordinated arson attack ordered by Russian services.
- Investigators have identified and apprehended some suspects, while others remain at large.
- Poland and Lithuania are collaborating to address a series of sabotage actions attributed to Russian military intelligence.
- Russia has denied any involvement in these arson incidents, despite ongoing accusations from Polish and Lithuanian authorities.

## Content

"We already know for sure that the large fire on Marywilska was the result of arson ordered by Russian services. The actions were coordinated by a person staying in Russia. Some of the perpetrators are already in custody, the rest have been identified and are being sought," Tusk said on X.

Poland has been a target of [sabotage actions](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N3QB0KV&linkedFromStory=true), which officials said have been part of a "hybrid war" being waged by Russia to destabilize the functioning of countries that support Ukraine in the war with Russia, involving tactics like arson and cyberattacks.

Polish investigators are cooperating with authorities in Lithuania, where some of the perpetrators also carried out sabotage activities, Justice Minister Adam Bodnar and Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said in a separate statement.

"We have in-depth knowledge of the order and course of the arson and the way in which the perpetrators documented it. Their actions were organized and directed by an identified person staying in the Russian Federation," they said.

"The Polish authorities are determined to hold accountable the perpetrators of the heinous acts of sabotage and those who directed them."

In March, Lithuanian prosecutors [accused](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N3Q00G4&linkedFromStory=true) Russia's military intelligence of orchestrating an arson attack on an IKEA store in Vilnius, which broke out three days before the shopping centre fire in neighboring Poland.

Russia has [denied](https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AS8N3PU07L&linkedFromStory=true) involvement in the arson attacks.

(Reporting by Marek Strzelecki; Editing by Ros Russell and Nia Williams)