Inside the Russian explosives plot that sent incendiary parcels to the UK

Aleksandr Suranovas says he agreed to post four parcels from Lithuania to the UK and Poland in July 2024 after being offered what he describes as decent pay for a few hours' work, but the parcels contained sophisticated incendiary devices hidden inside cosmetics tubes and massage cushions.

“- Published Sex toys, body lotion and massage cushions were not the kind of delivery Aleksandr Suranovas usually handled”

BBC

When he was handed the items in a Vilnius park the timers inside were already counting down and over the next two days three of the parcels caught fire, one just before it was due to be loaded onto a cargo plane for London.

BBC

Suranovas was arrested in August and charged with carrying out an act of terrorism on behalf of Russian military intelligence, the GRU; investigators in Lithuania and Poland now have 22 people in custody after an international probe involving UK counter-terrorism officers.

The investigation concluded the operation was run by Russia, an allegation Moscow denies, and this is the first time anyone involved in the parcel plot has spoken publicly.

The plot was coordinated remotely from Russia using Telegram handlers who assigned narrow tasks to a chain of operatives and untrained proxies, many of whom investigators say were unaware of the full picture.

Suranovas says he was recruited by an acquaintance called HK who messaged instructions and paid postage costs in cryptocurrency; HK also sent a photograph of a meeting point and told Suranovas the courier would be 'neutral'.

BBC

Another operative, known as Warrior, is suspected of organising related arson attacks and is believed to have instructed Vladislav Derkavets to activate the four ignition timers in Vilnius.

Investigators have identified people who hand-carried ignition devices into the EU, supplied vehicles and handled explosives, and CCTV filmed Suranovas inside DHL and DPD offices when he posted the parcels.

On 20 July, the package bound for London burst into flames at Leipzig airport just before it was due to go on a DHL cargo flight; a second device detonated before dawn the next day in a DPD lorry just outside Warsaw, one device malfunctioned, and the last ignited at a DHL warehouse in Birmingham.

“- Published Sex toys, body lotion and massage cushions were not the kind of delivery Aleksandr Suranovas usually handled”

BBC

No-one was hurt, but investigators describe extensive damage and later discovered a cache of explosives buried in food cans at a cemetery along with drone parts and mounts suggesting the cans could be fitted to drones.

Investigators also tracked other suspicious parcels sent from Warsaw and Amsterdam to North America that contained no explosives and are thought to have been testing routes.

A former senior official under President Biden told the BBC the White House contacted Russia 'at a high level' to demand the activity stop or face 'consequences'.

Lithuanian officials and security experts framed the plot as part of a broader pattern of Russian deniable operations inside Europe: Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of Lithuania's National Crisis Management Centre, warned it was 'active aggression' intended to hit countries supporting Ukraine, and Dovile Sakaliene, Lithuania's former Defence Minister, described the use of distant, 'clueless' proxies as Moscow's signature for deniability.

Security analysts at RUSI and a former European diplomat told the BBC that after Russia's field agent capacity was weakened post-Salisbury, Moscow increasingly contracts criminal networks and online groups to carry out sabotage, offering small sums that exploit people with money problems or criminal ties.

BBC

Suranovas, who has a past fraud conviction and says he was 'used', believes the plot was a test or a demonstration that Russian arms 'can reach deep and far', and Moscow has dismissed evidence of state involvement as 'anti-Russian' narrative.