Russia allegedly tried to plant two 'incendiary' devices onboard cargo or passenger aircraft flying to the U.S. and Canada as part of its sabotage plan, according to a report.
The devices were reportedly shipped by DHL and the plot was uncovered after the devices ignited in July, one at Leipzig in Germany and another in Birmingham, The Wall Street Journal quoted Western security officials.
The plot was part of Moscow's sabotage campaign against the US and its allies, the report said, adding that the explosions set off a global investigation.
The devices were reportedly electric massagers implanted with a magnesium-based flammable substance. The massagers were sent to the UK from Lithuania. The report added that this was a test run to figure out how to get such devices onboard flights for North America.
According to German officials investigating the devices, the devices narrowly missed being on the aircraft used by DHL. Once magnesium ignited, it would be difficult to extinguish with the firefighting systems. The only option will be an emergency landing. An aircraft over an ocean would have been at risk of going down, the officials told The WSJ.
One person was arrested by the Lithuanian police in this regard. He has been identified as Alexander Suranovas though he claimed to the officials that his name was Igor Prudnikov. He is suspected to have sent four incendiary devices, including two from a DHL shop in the capital Vilnius, the report quoted a European law-enforcement official. Officials said he was a proxy of Russian spy services.
Four others have been arrested by Poland’s National Prosecutor’s Office in connection with the fires and they face terrorism charges. "The group’s goal was also to test the transfer channel for such parcels, which were ultimately to be sent to the United States of America and Canada," the prosecutor’s office told The WSJ.
Polish authorities believe the Russians were behind this and if an explosion had happened, it would have been a major escalation in the Russia-West conflict.
However, Russia has rubbished the claims, stating it wasn't aware of any such accusation. "We have never heard any official accusations of Russian involvement. These are traditional unsubstantiated insinuations from the media," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the newspaper.
Two months after the DHL explosion, UK's MI6 head Richard Moore said that Russian spy agencies had "gone a bit feral in some of their behaviour."