Two men convicted of setting fire to property belonging to Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the orders of a shadowy taskmaster linked to the Russian state have been jailed today.
Details of the Attacks
On Monday, Roman Lavrynovych, 22, and Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, were found guilty of conspiring to commit arson attacks on property and a car linked to the Prime Minister. The arson attacks involved setting fire to a Toyota RAV4 which had once belonged to Starmer, as well as a home owned by the Prime Minister and occupied by his sister-in-law and her family, and another house.
The fires were started in the middle of the night while people were asleep, posing a serious threat to life and leaving householders terrified, the Old Bailey heard previously.
Recruitment and Payment
Lavrynovych carried out the arson attacks after being recruited online by a Russian-speaking Telegram user named "El Money", who promised him £3,000 in cryptocurrency if the blazes were filmed and made it into the news, the prosecution told the court.
Investigations by the BBC found that "El Money" was likely a Russian diplomat called Evgeny Lyukshinn, who had been trained by spies and close Putin allies in "information warfare," spreading hate and division online through fake extremist social media groups and paying individuals to commit crimes.
Police Comments
Following the convictions, Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said there was nothing to indicate "El Money" was a "state threat." However, she said the motivation behind the attacks had been to "cause concern" and "disruption" in the community within the UK and "fear" for the Prime Minister.
She told the Press Association: "I think the intentions of the defendants was clearly to take payment, and to carry out a crime for money. There was no ideological motivation around that, and there’s no evidence to suggest that they knew who they were targeting, and that that was the Prime Minister or properties linked to the Prime Minister."
"However, clearly the intention from the online tasker was to create fear, both for the victim and the Prime Minister, and cause uncertainty, unrest, for the UK."
Ms Flanagan said the two defendants had acted as criminal proxies for "El Money" and issued a warning to anyone else tempted by "easy cash." The identity of "El Money" was not discussed in the trial.
