Western security officials say they believe that two incendiary devices, shipped via DHL, were part of a covert Russian operation that ultimately aimed to start fires aboard cargo or passenger aircraft flying to the U.S. and Canada, as Moscow steps up a sabotage campaign against Washington and its allies.
The devices ignited at DHL logistics hubs in July, one in Leipzig, Germany, and another in Birmingham, England. The explosions set off a multinational race to find the culprits.
Now investigators and spy agencies in Europe have figured out how the devices—electric massagers implanted with a magnesium-based flammable substance—were made and concluded that they were part of a wider Russian plot, according to security officials and people familiar with the probe.
Security officials say the electric massagers, sent to the U.K. from Lithuania, appear to have been a test run to figure out how to get such incendiary devices aboard planes bound for North America.
Lithuanian police arrested a suspect who sent four incendiary devices, including two from a DHL shop in the capital Vilnius, a European law-enforcement official said. The suspect identified himself as Igor Prudnikov, but his real name is Alexander Suranovas, the official said. Investigators said they believe he was used as a proxy by Russian spy services.
By: Bojan Pancevski, Thomas Grove, Max Colchester and Daniel Michaels
Source: https://www.wsj.com/world/russia-plot-us-planes-incendiary-devices-de3b8c0a