Russia was ‘behind arson attacks’ targeting Keir Starmer

Two men found guilty over a series of arson attacks on property linked to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer were instructed to do so by a Russian-linked social media channel.

Last May, a Toyota Rav4, which was once owned by Sir Keir, was set alight in a street in Kentish Town, north London. Days later, two houses were set ablaze, including a north London home occupied by the Prime Minister’s sister-in-law and her family, which he still owns.

The attacks in the middle of the night while people were in bed asleep posed a serious threat to life and left householders terrified, the Old Bailey heard.

Ukrainian Roman Lavrynovych, 22, and Romanian Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, were found guilty of plotting to damage property after a jury deliberated for seven-and-a-half hours. Co-defendant Petro Pochynok, 35, was cleared of the same charge.

Police arrested the defendants within a week of the attacks ordered by a shadowy Telegram contact called ‘EL Money’, who the BBC has now revealed ‘El Money’ to be Evgeny Lyukshin, a 23-year-old Russian diplomat who is close to powerful politicians in Moscow.

In their investigation, the BBC found that Russian operatives ran sabotage missions through social media and messaging groups. They often created fake far-right and Muslim groups, which were then used to orchestrate acts of vandalism.

The Russian Embassy dismissed these claims, telling the broadcaster: ‘We reject any attempt to associate Russia or its foreign ministry with unlawful activities.’

Other racist groups formed by Russian operatives facilitated unrest in the UK, the BBC found.

One, called Direct Action, generated real-life attacks in London, when six mosques and an Islamic School were vandalised with racist graffiti.

The morning after one of these vandalisms occurred, EL posted an ad in a group for Ukrainians looking to work in London, which read: ‘Part-time job today! Leyton District. You need to take pictures of two buildings.’

EL wanted photos of the vandalism to circulate online. Even after Hope Not Hate reported Direct Action to counter-terrorism police, citing concern it was run by Russians, ‘no one replied’.

The Met has since said it is investigating the vandalism as anti-Muslim hate crimes, but no arrests have been made yet.

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