UK court convicts two over PM-targeting plot run by mysterious Russian

A British court has convicted two men for a series of arson attacks targeting properties and a car linked to Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

On Monday, the jury in London found Ukrainian national Roman Lavrynovych, 22, and Romanian Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, guilty of conspiracy to commit arson. The verdict was delivered following a months-long trial held in the British capital.

The attacks were carried out over five days in May last year and targeted a house Starmer vacated when he became prime minister in 2024. A house he part-owned was also targeted, along with a car that used to belong to him.

While officials have said they have no evidence that the attacks were sponsored by a hostile state, an unverified report released the same day asserted that the attacks were part of a campaign of sabotage and disinformation run by Russian intelligence services.

Lavrynovych was also convicted on two counts of damaging property by fire and of being reckless as to whether the lives of others were endangered in the process.

A third man, Petro Pochynok, 35, was acquitted of conspiracy to damage property by fire.

‘El Money’

Prosecutors told the court that Lavrynovych was directed by a Russian-speaking individual in May last year to carry out the attacks in return for a payment of around $4,000 in cryptocurrency. They said the person used the alias ‘El Money’ and contacted Lavrynovych via the messaging app Telegram.

No evidence was presented to suggest that ‘El Money’ was acting on behalf of a hostile state, but Counter Terrorism Policing London said the online handler was attempting to cause “unrest” in the UK.

“There’s no evidence to suggest that they knew who they were targeting, and that that was the prime minister,” said Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London.

The two men are due to be sentenced on Friday.

Flanagan added that “clearly the intention from the online tasker was to create fear, both for the victim and the prime minister, and cause uncertainty, unrest, for the UK”.

El Money, who was never identified or charged, requested video of the attacks, which could be shared online to generate publicity.

On Monday afternoon, the BBC reported that its own investigation had found the attack was part of “an extensive campaign of sabotage, provocation and lies leading all the way to the Russian state”.

The British public service broadcaster named El Money as a 23-year-old Russian diplomat named Evgeny Lyukshin, who it stated “is close to the highest levels of power in Moscow”.

Al Jazeera was unable to immediately verify the report.

The Russian embassy told the BBC: “We reject any attempt to associate Russia or its foreign ministry with unlawful activities,” adding that Russia poses “no threat to the United Kingdom or its people and harbours no aggressive intentions towards Britain”.