A British court in London has found two men guilty of a series of arson attacks targeting property and a vehicle linked to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. What seemed like just the rage of two young vandals against the president has ended up being revealed as an attack with Russian ties. A revenge against one of the governments that are most actively helping Ukraine in its invasion war with Moscow.
The defendants, in this case, were identified as Roman Lavrynovych, a 22-year-old Ukrainian citizen, and Stanislav Carpiuc, a 27-year-old Romanian citizen. The jury in the British capital found them guilty of conspiracy to commit arson after a trial that lasted for months.
The incidents occurred over a five-day period in May last year and targeted a house that the premier Labor vacated when he took office as prime minister, in 2024, and where his sister-in-law and niece now live; an apartment building in which the president owned a stake in the 90s, and a Toyota brand SUV, which previously belonged to him, just before becoming prime minister.
The information on the targets was not bad, although it was old.
During the trial, prosecutors detailed that Lavrynovych received instructions in May last year from a Russian-speaking individual to carry out the attacks. In exchange, he was offered a payment of approximately $4,000 in cryptocurrency. The contacts were made through the Telegram messaging application through an account under the alias of “The Money“.
The investigation
Although the United Kingdom authorities initially indicated that they do not have direct evidence to prove that the attacks were sponsored by a hostile state – that is, Vladimir Putin’s Russia -, a report released on the same day of the verdict maintains that the incidents were part of a campaign of sabotage and disinformation operated by Russian state intelligence. Part of that refined hybrid war against kyiv’s allies.
For its part, a parallel investigation by the British public corporation BBC stated yesterday that these attacks would be connected to a network of provocations and lies linked to the Russian State. Said source identified the user behind the alias “The Money” like Evgeny Lyukshin, a 23-year-old Russian diplomat allegedly close to the highest levels of power in Moscow. The information coincides with that obtained in a parallel investigation by the newspaper Financial Times.
This newspaper states that Lavrynovych was looking for work in London and, for months, asked for help in Ukrainian and Russian on various Telegram channels. Up to a hundred times, such was their desperation. He began to get small jobs, such as posting posters around London for an alleged British far-right group, Direct Action, which encouraged attacks on mosques and police cars. The contract came to him through NoName, an opaque group that also fueled violent riots against asylum seekers through messages and videos generated with artificial intelligence on social networks, the report delves. Financial. Lavrynovych maintains that he also made paid racist graffiti.
Lavrynovych assured that his only motivation was to earn money to take care of his father and that he detested Putin. As he explained, The Money He began to threaten him to comply with orders and believed that his family was in danger.
Russia and Iran have formally rejected accusations of involvement in these events.
Helen Flanagan, head of London’s Counter-Terrorism Police, said after the verdict that “there is no evidence to suggest that they [los autores materiales] “They didn’t know who they were attacking or that the target was the prime minister.”
After confirming the guilty verdict by the London court, the reading of the sentence for both men is scheduled to take place next Friday.
