Three people in Russia were sentenced to 12.5 to 15 years in prison for “attempted sabotage” of railways in favor of Ukraine, and a teenager has been arrested on the same charge, the Russian authorities announced today, as quoted by Agence France-Presse.
They were found guilty of attempting to set fire to railway switchboards in the Urals' Chelyabinsk region in January after being arrested at the scene, Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement. According to the investigators, if their act was successful, it “could have caused the collision of trains or the derailment of train sets”.
One of the main actors in this case, accused of providing money to buy components for an explosive device, has also pleaded guilty to “financing terrorism,”, the release added.
In addition, a 16-year-old Russian teenager, acting “on the instructions of Ukrainian intelligence services”, was detained on the same charges in the Kirov region of central Russia, the Investigative Committee said in a separate statement.
According to the investigators, the arrest was made when, for “a monetary reward, the young man tried to set fire to two devices for signalling, centralization and automatic blocking of the main tracks” on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
„During his arrest, equipment for making improvised explosive devices was found (in him), as well as “messages exchanged with agents of the Ukrainian intelligence services”, the Investigative Committee also said in the announcement.
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According to the state agency RIA, the teenager pleaded guilty to the crime and reported that he acted after a promise of 25,000 rubles (about 250 euros).
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian authorities have increased the number of arrests in Russia on charges of “espionage“, “treason“, “sabotage“, “extremism“ and “discrediting the army”, and these charges often result in heavy sentences.
Since February 2022, thousands of people have been punished, threatened or imprisoned for opposing the conflict.