In the UK, a group of petty criminals, on the orders of Russian agents, carried out sabotage, including setting fire to a Ukrainian warehouse in London last March, where aid for Ukraine was consolidated. They were also supposed to kidnap Yevgeny Chichvarkin and burn down his restaurant Hide. The New York Times revealed details of this plan.
The head of the anti-terrorism unit of the London police, Dominic Murphy, stated that the Wagner PMC "used proxies to carry out very serious criminal actions on its behalf".
On Tuesday, a jury found three men guilty of setting fire to the warehouse and a fourth for failing to report these plans to the police. Two group leaders, Dylan Earl and Jake Reeves, had already admitted their role in this conspiracy.
A 21-year-old drug dealer from Leicester, fascinated by Kremlin ideas, proposed creating a network of "hundreds of soldiers" to carry out his orders.
Investigators believe he communicated with Russian intelligence through a Telegram channel associated with the Wagner PMC, which, after the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, is under the control of Russian special services. Previously, this channel published a call to international groups with an offer of "cooperation". On March 15, 2024, this account began sending messages to Earl, proposing to carry out sabotage in Europe.
The correspondence included questions about whether the group had access to firearms and how many people could be involved in the operations.
Within 24 hours of starting the chat, the Russian account gave the first order — to set fire to two warehouses in East London owned by a Ukrainian businessman.
Earl instructed his acquaintance, 23-year-old Jack Reeves, living in South London, to find people to participate in this mission. By March 20, 22-year-old Jaykim Rose and 23-year-old Nii Mensah had set fire to warehouses containing Starlink satellite equipment and other cargoes intended for shipment to Ukraine. By the time local police arrived at the fire scene in an inconspicuous industrial area, the men had already fled. However, they were identified by CCTV cameras and detained. The criminals pleaded guilty to arson.
The fire, which caused damage worth over a million pounds, was the first of what the Russian curator of Earl described in correspondence as "many glorious deeds ahead".
The next task was the kidnapping of Chichvarkin, who publicly criticized Putin and collected aid for Ukraine.
On March 31, 2024, Earl told Reeves that "there will be a big reward for capturing this man," he needs to be kidnapped and transported to Russia.
Describing where the proposed payment of 50,000 pounds sterling for the kidnapping would come from, Earl posted an emoji with the Russian flag in the chat. He offered another 10,000 pounds sterling for setting fire to the Hide restaurant and Hedonism Wines wine shop owned by Chichvarkin.
Earl asked his 20-year-old acquaintance Ashton Evans from Wales, who was involved in drug trafficking, to organize the arson. Earl said that the objects should be turned into "ashes" to receive full payment from his Russian curators and discussed how to make napalm and bombs.
At the same time, in correspondence with the Russian account, Earl discussed creating a new political "guerrilla movement" in the UK, "punishing Russian traitors," setting fire to even more warehouses, spying on the government and enterprises, and obtaining leaks from databases.
On April 10, 2024, Earl was arrested, and he and Reeves pleaded guilty to organizing the warehouse arson. Earl also pleaded guilty to preparing acts of violence on behalf of a foreign state, and Reeves pleaded guilty to receiving money from foreign intelligence.
This case became the first prosecution under the UK National Security Act 2023, which created new legal powers regarding individuals working on behalf of foreign states.
* Recognized in Russia as a "foreign agent".
Photo: Teri Pengilley