The Novosibirsk Regional Court sentenced four residents of Novosibirsk accused of committing sabotage in the spring of 2023. Saveliy Ryapolov and Pavel Solovyov received 7 and 7.5 years in a colony, Viktor Skorobogatov — 5 years, Kirill Veselov — 6.5 years, as reported by the local publication NGS. The first 3.5 years they must spend in prison. At the time of the sabotage, the accused were between 17 and 19 years old.
According to the investigation, in May 2023, four teenagers from Novosibirsk received a task from anonymous users in Telegram, after which they set fire to a relay cabinet on the West Siberian Railway, as well as a base station of a mobile operator and a decommissioned Su-24 aircraft located on the territory of the Novosibirsk Aviation Plant.
At the same time, the government of the Novosibirsk region and the regional Ministry of Emergency Situations previously denied information about the arson of the Su-24 aircraft at the Chkalov Aviation Plant. “There were no fires. This is misinformation. This is fake, I say with 100% confidence,” said representatives of the regional authorities.
According to law enforcement, who insisted on the sabotage charges, the four convicted planned to set fire to another aircraft “in the interests of a Ukrainian terrorist organization,” but did not have time: they were detained in May 2024.
According to one of the detained youths, for setting fire to relay cabinets, the saboteurs were promised from 15 to 50 thousand rubles, the aircraft was a more complex and highly paid task — they were promised a quarter of a million for it. According to the FSB, the young people never received most of the payment from the customers.