{"id":4101,"date":"2025-04-10T04:01:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T04:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4101"},"modified":"2025-04-10T04:01:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T04:01:06","slug":"lithuania-ikea-fire-russia-sabotage-html","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4101","title":{"rendered":"How a Ukrainian Teen Became a Suspected Foot Soldier for Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The job offer, pitched to appeal to a 17-year-old Ukrainian refugee without work, promised a BMW car and about $11,000 in cash.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Daniil Bardadim, a teenager on the run from war in Ukraine, received the offer early last year after making his way to Warsaw in neighboring Poland, according to investigators.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He accepted and was given a BMW, albeit an old one, but not the cash. And what probably once seemed an attractive proposition soured even more badly. It landed him in jail in Lithuania on a raft of terrorism charges, accused of setting fire to an IKEA store.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The job, offered through a shadowy group, turned Mr. Bardadim into an unwitting foot soldier for Russia as part of a multipronged campaign of sabotage attacks on targets across Europe, Lithuanian investigators say.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Shopping malls, warehouses, undersea cables and railways in Europe have all been hit over the past two years in what <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.csis.org\/analysis\/russias-shadow-war-against-west\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">the Center for Strategic and International Studies<\/a> describes as a drive to sow havoc led by Russia\u2019s military intelligence service, the GRU.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The number of covert Russian attacks nearly tripled between 2023 and 2024. That has worried European governments who fear that the invasion of Ukraine by President Vladimir V. Putin is part of a broader offensive that is underway elsewhere in the shadows and could easily escalate into additional overt aggression.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe have already entered a war zone in Europe,\u201d said Darius Jauniskis, the outgoing director of Lithuania\u2019s State Security Department. \u201cTheir goal,\u201d he said, \u201cis to create havoc, to create mistrust and panic\u201d and undermine public support for helping Ukraine. \u201cWelcome to World War III,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Steve Witkoff, President Trump\u2019s envoy to the Middle East and Russia, dismissed as \u201cpreposterous\u201d the notion that the \u201cRussians are going to march across Europe\u201d in a recent <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/tuckercarlson\/status\/1903207340696014945?s=46&amp;t=4qPcdfZVvguwYr8xs2mG-g\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">interview<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t regard Putin as a bad guy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That view has left many in Europe aghast, particularly in countries near Russia, like Poland and the Baltic States.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe shadow war in Lithuania and other countries shows that Putin is ready and able to act beyond his country\u2019s borders,\u201d said Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania\u2019s former foreign minister. The belief that Russia\u2019s aggressive intent does not extend beyond Ukraine, he added, is \u201cjust wishful thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The attack Mr. Bardadim is accused of carrying out took place last May, when an incendiary device planted at an IKEA store in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, burst into flames in the middle of the night. Police officers later stopped a bus he was traveling on from Lithuania to neighboring Latvia and arrested him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Among his possessions on the bus were incendiary devices that investigators believe were to be used in another arson attack in the Latvian capital, Riga.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Bardadim\u2019s court-appointed lawyer, Renata Janusyte, declined to comment on the record about her client\u2019s actions or motives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Lithuania\u2019s investigation into Mr. Bardadim has revealed striking and often bizarre details of how sabotage operations are prepared and carried out. That includes the use of a Vilnius railway station locker to stash a bag containing explosives, six mobile phones, four detonators and two vibrators, whose intended use is unclear.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Why Ukrainians would get involved in a sabotage campaign on behalf of their country\u2019s archenemy has raised troubling questions for Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. Those countries welcomed tens of thousands of refugees from Ukraine and lobbied strongly for stepped-up Western military aid to help Kyiv resist Russia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Bardadim grew up in Kherson, a mainly Russian-speaking city in southern Ukraine near the Black Sea that, before the war started, was home to many residents who looked favorably on Russia. Mr. Bardadim\u2019s mother still lives there. Contacted by telephone in Kherson, she declined to comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Lithuanian investigators believe Mr. Bardadim and others involved in the IKEA attack were mainly motivated by money. Last month, Arturas Urbelis, the lead prosecutor, described them as \u201cyoung individuals who clearly lack life experience\u201d and who, because of the war in Ukraine, \u201chave found themselves in a difficult material position.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He added that they perhaps \u201cdid not comprehend the ultimate objective\u201d of those who, hidden behind aliases on social media, commissioned and guided their work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">People being recruited by GRU \u201care obviously not professionals,\u201d since they are easily getting caught, and are often in difficult financial straits and attracted by \u201coffers of quick and easy money,\u201d said Mr. Jauniskis, the State Security Department director.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Pitching for recruits on social media, Russia\u2019s intelligence agencies \u201cjust throw out a fishing net to see who will bite,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Asked whether it had found any evidence that Mr. Bardadim signed up as a saboteur out of loyalty to Russia, the office of Lithuania\u2019s prosecutor general said \u201cthere is no information indicating that the defendant holds pro-Russian views.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many of the instructions sent to Mr. Bardadim and other recruits were transmitted via Telegram by a user who went by the name Warrior2Alpha, according to Lithuanian investigators. Another channel of communication was Zengi, a Chinese messaging app.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Ukrainian teenager was recruited by what investigators describe as a subterranean Russian network directed by the GRU and other Russian agencies to spread mayhem. He communicated, according to Lithuanian prosecutors, on Zengi with an unidentified handler using the alias \u201cQ,\u201d apparently referring to the character in the James Bond movies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The most potentially dangerous sabotage operations have involved incendiary devices disguised as innocent packages. A parcel flown from Vilnius to Germany by DHL burst into flames last July at a handling center in Leipzig. Another package from Vilnius exploded in Birmingham, England, and a third burst into flames at a Polish courier firm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Western intelligence officials have blamed each episode on Russia. And the IKEA fire has also been clearly linked to Russian sabotage, Mr. Jauniskis said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Bardadim, prosecutors say, crossed Poland\u2019s northern border with Lithuania last April. He scouted possible targets, visiting an IKEA store in Siauliai, an eastern city, and a second, bigger IKEA store in Vilnius.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Siauliai, home to a NATO air base, has long been a focus for Russian intelligence services. Last year, the Lithuanian police arrested an 82-year-old retiree there on espionage charges after finding spy gear at his home. Mr. Jauniskis said the man was working for the GRU.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cFor Russia, age, gender and ideology don\u2019t matter,\u201d Marius Cesnulevicius, the national security adviser to Lithuania\u2019s president, said in an interview. Beyond the nuisance value of such operations, he said, \u201ctheir goal is to coerce and deter us from supporting Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After his scouting trip to Siauliai and Vilnius last April, Mr. Bardadim went back to Warsaw. He then returned to Vilnius and, prosecutors say, on May 8 planted an incendiary device in the bedding section of the IKEA store. On a timer, it exploded early on May 9, which Russia celebrates as \u201cVictory Day\u201d marking the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The timing was deliberate, said Mr. Cesnulevicius, the national security adviser.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe are supporting Ukraine, and, in the Kremlin\u2019s logic, this means we are supporting Nazis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The incendiary device that prosecutors say Mr. Bardadim planted set off an inferno but failed to burn down the building, as had apparently been the plan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Three days later in Warsaw, a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/notesfrompoland.com\/2024\/05\/13\/after-warsaws-largest-shopping-centre-destroyed-by-fire-owner-pledges-to-rebuild\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">mysterious blaze<\/a> that Polish investigators now believe was caused by Russia-recruited saboteurs destroyed the city\u2019s largest shopping center. Poland believes that Mr. Bardadim, who left Vilnius for Warsaw on the night of the IKEA operation, may have been involved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Bardadim, according to prosecutors, had accomplices in Lithuania, including a fellow Ukrainian, who helped in the IKEA attack and has since been arrested in Poland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Polish prosecutors recently said they had also filed terrorism charges against a Belarusian citizen who has been accused of setting fire to a large hardware store in Warsaw last April.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In February, Bosnia extradited to Poland a Russian man, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slobodnaevropa.org\/a\/bezrukavji-bih-izrucenje-rusija-poljska-moldavija\/33277731.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Aleksandr Bezrukavyi,<\/a> who was accused of belonging to a cell of Moscow operatives that coordinated sabotage operations against Polish, Baltic and other NATO-member targets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland said last month that Lithuania\u2019s wide-ranging investigation into the IKEA attack had \u201cconfirmed our suspicions that those responsible for setting fires to shopping centers in Vilnius and Warsaw are Russia\u2019s secret services.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Jauniskis, the director of Lithuania\u2019s State Security Department, said the IKEA attack \u201cwas not just about burning mattresses\u201d but part of a wider campaign to \u201ccreate panic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He added: \u201cWe talk about sabotage, but in reality this is state-supported terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The job offer, pitched to appeal to a 17-year-old Ukrainian refugee without work, promised a BMW car and about $11,000 in cash. Daniil Bardadim, a teenager on the run from&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":589,"featured_media":4102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How a Ukrainian Teen Became a Suspected Foot Soldier for Russia - Frisco Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=4101\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How a Ukrainian Teen Became a Suspected Foot Soldier for Russia - Frisco Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The job offer, pitched to appeal to a 17-year-old Ukrainian refugee without work, promised a BMW car and about $11,000 in cash. 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