The IKEA store in Vilnius, Lithuania, June 9, 2022. PHOTO: Jurgita Vaicikeviciene / Alamy / Profimedia
A Lithuanian court sentenced a young Ukrainian man to 3 years and 4 months in prison for setting fire to an IKEA store from Vilnius last year, reports AFP.
An explosive device placed in the store in the capital of Lithuania on May 8, 2024 was detonated overnight, causing a fire that was quickly contained by firefighters. No one was injured in the attack.
A judge in Vilnius concluded that Daniil Bardadim committed “an act of terrorism” in Vilnius and also “an attempted terrorist attack” in the northern Lithuanian city of Siauliai, which is home to a NATO airbase.
Accused of acting in the interests of foreign military espionage
Prosecutors accused Bardadim of acting “in the interests of a foreign military intelligence service” and that Russia knew about his plans.
At the time, the prosecution had suggested that the store could have been targeted because the Swedish furniture chain's logo has the same colors as Ukraine's flag, according to Reuters.
The defendant, who was 17 at the time, was promised a car and a reward of 10,000 euros for his actions, prosecutors said.
The judge also found him guilty of “training for terrorist purposes”, traveling to the Latvian capital Riga “for terrorist purposes and possession of explosives”.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Lithuania, other Baltic states and Poland, all allies of Kiev, have claimed to have been the target of several Russian-orchestrated sabotage attempts.
