Polish officials on Monday said that two Turkish citizens have been detained in Germany in connection with a fire last month at a Starlink station in Poland.
The satellite-based Starlink internet service is widely used by the military of Poland’s neighbor Ukraine amid the Russian invasion.
Officials from several EU countries have been warning of mounting Russian sabotage, cyber and hybrid attacks across Europe aiming either to erode support for Ukraine or to impact Ukraine directly.
Polish officials did not specify exactly where or when the two men were allegedly detained in Germany.
What did Poland say about the arrests and the case?
Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski reported the arrests on Monday, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk following soon after.
“On behalf of Polish services, German police detained two Turkish citizens suspected of setting fire to a Starlink station in Masovia,” he said on social media. “This is another act of hybrid warfare. The perpetrators of the sabotage will answer before the Polish justice system.”
Masovia is the province that includes the Polish capital Warsaw, not that far from Poland’s eastern borders to Belarus and Ukraine.
Poland blames Russia for incident
Poland’s Special Services Minister Tomasz Siemoniak alleged that Russia was behind the incident.
He also told a press conference that, “it is worth adding that Russian services are increasingly turning to individuals linked to the criminal underworld” for such attacks.
Russia typically dismisses European claims of hybrid warfare or systemic sabotage as either anti-Russian hysteria or disinformation.
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Edited by: Wesley Rahn
