Five men sentenced over roles in London arson attack

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LONDON (AP) — A British judge sentenced five men Friday for their roles in an arson in London that authorities say was orchestrated by Russian intelligence as part of a wider campaign of sabotage and disruption.

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Their sentences ranged from seven to 17 years in prison. Another man has been convicted of concealing information about a plot to arson a London restaurant.

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Five men were involved in a plot to set fire to an east London warehouse in March 2024 containing satellite communications devices destined for Ukraine.

The judge said the arson, organized on behalf of the Wagner paramilitary group, was part of a planned campaign of terrorism and sabotage on behalf of the Russian state. She said it was likely linked to another warehouse arson in Spain.

The fire is one of at least 25 arson or explosives plots across Europe linked to Russia by Western officials that The Associated Press has documented since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, 2022.

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European intelligence officials told the AP that the risk of death or serious injury is increasing as Russian-led saboteurs set fire to homes and businesses, plant explosives or make bombs.

Prosecutor Duncan Penny said the attack was “part of a series of pan-European sabotage operations”.

Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said the case “concerns the Russian Federation's attempts to gain malign global influence by using social media to recruit saboteurs at vast distances from Moscow.”

The convictions were the first by a British court for breaches of the National Security Act, which was introduced in 2023 to combat foreign threats including espionage and sabotage. On Thursday, three men were arrested under the law on suspicion of spying for Russia.

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Arson and kidnapping conspiracies

Dylan Earl, the British man who started the arson, was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Cheema-Grubb said that before he was recruited, he was a member of numerous pro-Russian propaganda channels on Telegram.

An arson attack in East London caused £1 million ($1.3 million) worth of damage to a warehouse owned by a Ukrainian couple who were shipping Starlink satellite communications devices to Ukraine. The devices are often used by the Ukrainian military.

The couple also own a business on the outskirts of Madrid which was set on fire 10 days after the London attack, a Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism officer told the court in a statement. They said the methods used “strongly” suggest the two incidents may be related.

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Earl, 21, and his accomplices also spoke of burning down London businesses owned by Yevgeny Chichvarkin, a Russian tycoon who shipped goods to Ukraine, and kidnapping him.

Earle also attempted to pay someone identified as an active British soldier to provide intelligence for the Wagner Group, an organization of mercenaries whose activities were taken over by the Russian Ministry of Defense in 2023.

The day after the arson in London, he also discussed the arson of a warehouse in the Czech Republic, and then the kidnapping of another billionaire and the collection of bank card data of European residents.

Earl's defense lawyer Paul Hynes described him as a “sad” dreamer who boasted to his Russian recruiter that he could be “the best spy you've ever seen” and had links to international crime gangs.

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Hines said Earl had a difficult childhood and saw the world through the “delusional lens of online games.”

He communicated on Telegram using Privet Bot, an account that posted messages several times to a Telegram channel associated with the Wagner Group, asking him to join the battle against the West.

The Metropolitan Police on Friday released an image of Earl holding his passport to confirm his identity to Hi-Bot, who was likely linked to Russian military intelligence, a court heard.

Privet Bot asked Earl to “gain access to bank accounts containing money destined for Ukraine,” including Russian assets frozen following President Vladimir Putin's invasion of the country.

“We need those who are our soul mates,” said a Russian recruiter.

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Earl told his psychiatrist he received 5,000 euros ($5,815) in cryptocurrency for the attack, with Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb saying he was motivated by “simple and ugly greed.”

Models throughout Europe

Police and intelligence agencies are battling similar attacks, including online recruitment, across Europe.

Polish authorities have been investigating multiple arson attacks on shopping centers, industrial areas and residential buildings that show Russian militants often “follow the same pattern” in plots across Europe, a spokesman for Poland's security minister, Jacek Dobrzynski, said.

In 2024, a Colombian on the Telegram app was tasked with setting fire to two warehouses in Poland and then traveling to the Czech capital Prague to set fire to public buses.

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Like Earl, he was given a location to set the fires, instructions on how and when to set them, and told to provide video evidence to Russian intelligence agencies in order to get money, Dobzhinsky told the AP.

The purpose of the arson attacks is to “scare people,” create conflict and undermine European societies and support for Ukraine, Dobrzhinsky said. It's also about testing law enforcement's response and – since conspiracies often involve multiple people and lines of investigation – draining police resources, he said.

Five men were sentenced Friday along with Earle for their roles in the conspiracies.

Both Earl and his accomplice Jake Reeves, 24, “voluntarily acted as hostile agents on behalf of the Russian state,” said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism unit. Reeves was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

But 23-year-old Nii Mensah, 23-year-old Jakeem Rose and 20-year-old Ugnius Asmena did not know they were working for Russia. They were found guilty of aggravated arson and sentenced to nine years in prison; eight years, 10 months and seven years imprisonment respectively. Ashton Evans, 20, was sentenced to nine years in prison for failing to disclose information about terrorist attacks.

The sentences, Ms Cheema-Grubb said, “should send a message” to others that engaging in online activity that undermines UK security is “not appropriate”.

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