Russian spies are being blamed for sabotage of a key railway line in Poland to Ukraine.
Everything points to Russian intelligence services commissioning the attack on Polish railways over the weekend, a spokesperson for the special services minister Tomasz Siemoniak said in Warsaw on Tuesday.
Poland’s Prime Minster Donald Tusk has described an explosion that damaged the Polish railway track on a route to Ukraine as an “unprecedented act of sabotage”.
He vowed to catch those responsible for an incident he said could have ended in tragedy.
The blast on the Warsaw-Lublin line that connects the capital to the Ukrainian border followed a wave of arson, sabotage and cyberattacks in Poland and other European countries since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022.
On the latest incident, Lukasz Wojdyga, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies at Warsaw’s Enterprise Institute, said: “This is the first act of sabotage of this scale on Polish tracks since the end of World War II.”
Russia always denies involvement in such attacks.
Vladimir Putin, though, has been testing Nato’s resolve, with Russian drones suspected of recently intruding in Polish airspace.
Faced with the growing threat from Russia, Nato has strengthened is eastern border.
British military jets have been deployed for patrols over Poland.
Aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales has also come under Nato command as the UK and allies move to “war readiness”.
Russia has also been accused of engaging in “grey warfare”, with acts stopping short of attacks but allegedly including targeting key infrastructure.
A Russian spy ship, the Yantar, was made to leave British waters, where it was suspected of loitering over undersea cables, by a Royal Navy submarine surfacing to challenge it, alongside HMS Somerset.
Warsaw has in the past held Russia responsible for sabotage incidents, saying Poland has become one of Moscow’s biggest targets due to its role as a hub for aid to Kyiv. Russia has repeatedly denied being responsible for acts of sabotage.
“The blowing up of the railway track on the Warsaw-Lublin route is an unprecedented act of sabotage aimed at the security of the Polish state and its citizens,” Tusk wrote on X.
“An investigation is underway. Just like in previous cases of this kind, we will catch the perpetrators, regardless of who their backers are.”
Polish government ministers said there was one confirmed and one “highly probable” act of sabotage, referring to an incident on another part of the route where railway traction was damaged.
Warsaw said in October that Poland and Romania had detained eight people suspected of planning sabotage on behalf of Russia.
Local police said on Sunday that a train driver had reported damage on the railway line, but authorities were not able to immediately confirm that it was a result of sabotage.
“This route is also used to transport weapons to Ukraine,” Tusk said in a video address. “Fortunately, no tragedy occurred, but the legal implications are very serious.”
Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said the military was inspecting a 120 km (74.6 miles) stretch of track leading to the Ukrainian border.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said that abundant evidence was collected at the site that should allow for the perpetrators to be quickly identified.
The damaged route that passes through the eastern city of Lublin is used by 115 trains daily.
