Russian secret services recruit teenagers for money to burn down Ukraine's Armed Forces' vehicles

In order to destabilise the situation in Ukraine, Russian secret services are encouraging minors to burn the vehicles belonging to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including those of military personnel, for money. 

Source: Ukraine’s National Police 

Details: Law enforcement officers found that since the beginning of 2024, the Russian secret services have become more active on social media, involving people as young as 13 years old in clandestine subversive activities. 

Russian special service officers promise minors generous financial rewards for arson attacks. 

Vadym Dziubynskyi, the head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the National Police, said that in Odesa, the criminal police had exposed two boys, aged 13 and 16, who had set two cars belonging to military personnel on fire. The teenagers were detained along with two friends, aged 16 and 18, while trying to set fire to another car. 

It is noted that police investigators transferred the materials under their jurisdiction to the Security Service of Ukraine investigators, who, based on the evidence collected by law enforcement officers, notified the detainee of suspicion of sabotage committed under martial law. 

The youngest, a 13-year-old boy, was handed over to his parents. The court imposed on the others a pre-trial restraint in the form of detention without bail. They face up to 15 years in prison. 

The operatives detained two more young men, aged 17 and 18, for a similar crime. They have also been served with a notice of suspicion, and a measure of restraint has been imposed on them, the National Police added. 

Arson attacks on Armed Forces vehicles were also recorded in Kyiv and Dnipro. Urgent investigative actions are being taken over these facts, and a pre-trial investigation is underway, police said. 

Quote: "The National Police of Ukraine, together with the Security Service of Ukraine, is actively opposing the enemy and taking measures to protect young people from the influence of Russian secret services. 

We urge parents to be more attentive to their children, as well as to warn them about the enemy's treachery and the statutory liability for committing sabotage: up to 15 years in prison or life imprisonment."

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