A network linked to the Kremlin organised the arson attacks on British Prime Minister Starmer’s property — media reports
This is the subject of investigations by the Financial Times and the BBC.
During their investigation, FT journalists discovered that Roman Lavrynovych, a Ukrainian man found guilty of arson by a British court, was recruited via Telegram in late 2024 by a handler using the pseudonym El Money. Initially, he assigned him minor tasks, including putting up posters for the far-right Direct Action movement across London.
The FT claims that the Direct Action movement was in fact run by people from Russia. The group called for attacks on mosques and police cars, distributed instructions on how to make explosives and offered money for acts of violence.
El Money later ordered Lavrynovych to set fire to a car that had previously belonged to Starmer, as well as the Prime Minister’s private residence and his former home. According to the investigation, the Ukrainian was promised several thousand dollars in cryptocurrency if the arson attacks received widespread media coverage.
No one was killed in the attacks, but during the fire at Starmer’s house, a relative of his was inside with her nine-year-old daughter. The woman called the fire brigade after hearing explosions and seeing smoke near the front door.
According to the FT, El Money’s handler was linked to the NoName057(16) network, which the US authorities had previously described as a Kremlin project. Meanwhile, a BBC investigation suggests that the name ‘El Money’ belongs to 23-year-old Yevgeny Lyukshin — the son of a Russian diplomat who previously worked as an adviser at the embassy in Denmark.
Yesterday, 15 June, a British court found Lavrinovich and his accomplice — 27-year-old Stanislav Karpyuk, a Ukrainian-born Romanian citizen — guilty of setting fire to Starmer’s property in the spring of 2025. Their sentences will be handed down on Friday, 19 June. Another Ukrainian, 35-year-old Petro Pochynok, was acquitted.
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