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A third major fire in less than a week broke out in Poland on Monday, prompting the authorities to suspect that the incidents may be linked to hybrid operations by Russian intelligence services.

The latest fire broke out in a warehouse in Siemianowice Ślaskie in southern Poland. This follows a fire in a residential building in Ząbki, near Warsaw, on 1 July, and a fire in a production hall in Mińsk Mazowiecki, around 35 km from the capital, on Sunday.

Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said on Monay that in light of Russia’s hybrid tactics, the government is treating all major fires with increased scrutiny.

“Since January 2024, we have seen several attempted acts of sabotage. Every significant incident, fire, or attempted arson is being assessed as a potential act of sabotage,” he said during a press conference.

The suspicion of Russian involvement intensified after a massive shopping center in Marywilska, Warsaw, burned down in May. The government later said it had evidence linking Russian intelligence to the incident. In response, Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski ordered the closure of Russia’s consulate in Kraków.

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  • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    target Yevgeny Chichvarkin, a dissident Russian who owns Hide, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Mayfair

    So funny, such a “dissident” to reach there in Yeltsin and Putin years.

    • huppakee@feddit.nl
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      4 hours ago

      I’m not sure i get what you mean, why put dissident between quotation marks? Do you doubt he is?

      He was a member of the Right Cause political party and was expected to become chairman of its Moscow section. Chichvarkin currently lives in London, from where he has campaigned against corruption in Russia and president Vladimir Putin personally.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evgeny_Chichvarkin

      • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        He’s a Russian businessman who became one in the last 35 years. He’s “dissident” in the sense that he picked the wrong side.

        Khodorkovsky’s close associate has been named by French, I think, police as the main suspect for ordering an attack on a Russian opposition figure recently.

        Look up Navalny’s organization’s opinions of all those people. Navalny was a controversial figure for many intents and purposes, and I really hope he didn’t return to Russia because of getting desperate and tired of idiots like me mentioning those controversies. His organization might not parrot the western narratives the way Khodor and others do, but it is genuine.