TYRANT Vladimir Putin has been accused of plotting terror attacks against international airlines in a global wave of sabotage.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk claimed that Russia carried out what he described as “air terror” against airlines in Poland and other countries.

During a news conference in Warsaw alongside Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky, Tusk said: “I will not go into details, I can only confirm the validity of fears that Russia was planning acts of air terror, not only against Poland but against airlines around the world.

“These acts of sabotage are versions of the war that Russia has declared to the whole world, not just Ukraine.”

A slew of air disasters in Europe recently has been linked to the Kremlin by multiple Western intelligence officials.

Western security officials suspect Russian intelligence was behind a plot to put incendiary devices in packages on cargo planes headed to North America.

This includes one that caught fire at a courier hub in Germany and another that ignited in a warehouse in England last year.

In November, a DHL cargo plane from Leipzig crashed into a house just a mile before it was supposed to touch down on the runway at Vilnius Airport.

The crash killed one person.

Shocking images show the fiery wreckage of the DHL cargo plane as emergency crews rushed to put out the blaze.

In July, Russia was suspected of planting a bomb inside a package on a plane to Britain.

The package later caught fire while at a DHL warehouse in Birmingham with the blaze dealt to by local fire services.

These incidents reignited fears of Russian covert sabotage operations against the West.

MI5 Director General Ken McCallum warned that Russia was on a “sustained mission to generate mayhem” in the UK’s streets.

The Kremlin has dismissed previous Western claims that Russia sponsored acts of sabotage and attacks in Europe.

Late last year, Azerbaijan accused Russia of unintentionally shooting down an Azerbaijani airliner that crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas day, killing 38 people.

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a tragic incident following the crash but stopped short of acknowledging that Moscow was responsible.

The Polish government has now said Russia is pursuing acts of hybrid war against Poland and other Western countries in retaliation for their support for Ukraine.

Last year, Poland’s foreign minister ordered the closure of one of three Russian consulates in the country in response to acts of sabotage, including arson attacks that he said were sponsored by Moscow.

Putin’s previous ‘plane attacks’

VLADIMIR Putin and Russia have been accused of being behind several deadly plane incidents in recent months.

In December an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane was shot down by a Russian missile.

Vlad was forced to ssay a rare “sorry” over the crash that killed 38 people in a phone call with Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev.

But despite apologising, Vlad continued to dodge taking responsibility for the Christmas Day disaster – instead merely being sorry it happened in his airspace.

He described the crash as a “tragic incident” – but did admit that Russian air defences were active at the time of the approach by the plane.

The 72-year-old insisted his troops were repelling Ukrainian drones attacking the Russian region of Chechnya.

It is understood Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 was hit by an air defence missile while landing in the Russian city of Grozny after taking off from Baku in Azerbaijan.

At first Russia tried to blame the crash on a “bird strike”.

Putin’s forces have also been accused of jamming the plane’s systems and refusing the stricken aircraft permission to make an emergency landing in Russia.

Back in 2014, a Russian-made missile horrifically shot down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine.

All 283 passengers and 15 crew, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, were killed when Russian-backed forces launched the attack from an occupied part of Ukraine.

Shocking images showed debris spread throughout the Russian-controlled area.

The deaths included ten Britons, 193 Dutch, 38 Australians and 43 Malaysians. Eighty victims were children.