Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, citing sources, reported that Russia’s military intelligence service GRU planned drone attacks using explosives hidden in tin cans in Poland, Lithuania and possibly Germany, and that the scheme surfaced during an investigation in Poland.
“Our assessment is that the GRU was preparing terror attacks,” sources told the newspaper. “To do so, they would have wanted to use drones with canisters of explosives instead of corn.”
The report says an alleged GRU courier, Wladyslaw G., detained in Poland, smuggled SIM cards, drone parts and explosives packed in Polish tin cans. He was allegedly instructed to go to a local cemetery, dig up the cans and then transport them to the Polish city of Lódz.
Gazeta Wyborcza wrote that the canned explosives would fit precisely into special containers under drones and that similar cans have been discovered in cemeteries in Lithuania.
Poland’s internal security service ABW declined to confirm the discovery of explosives to news site Fakt and said only that a number of operations are underway to “neutralize” outside threats.
The investigation into Wladyslaw G. was expected to be completed this year. He faces a life sentence, write Fakt and Gazeta Wyborcza.
Poland has repeatedly said it has been targeted by Russian sabotage, including arson and cyber attacks, which Warsaw says are intended to destabilize countries supporting Ukraine. Russia is blamed for a massive fire that virtually destroyed a shopping mall in the Polish capital Warsaw in May 2024.
Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that “Russian provocations” on the Baltic Sea are almost a daily occurrence. According to Tusk, this has engaged the West in a “new kind of war” with Russia.
