Two men were convicted on Monday of conspiring to carry out arson attacks targeting properties and a car linked to Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain after one of them was recruited by a Russian-language Telegram account.
The fires at two houses and a vehicle, all of which Mr. Starmer had owned or used, happened over a five-day period in May 2025.
One of the men, Roman Lavrynovych, 22, admitted to taking orders from a Russian-language Telegram account that operated under a Ukrainian name that translates to “EL Money.” Mr. Lavrynovych was convicted on two counts of committing arson while being reckless as to whether life would be endangered.
The other man, Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, who was born in Ukraine but holds Romanian nationality, was found guilty for his role in the attacks. A third man, Petro Pochynok, 35, who is a Ukrainian citizen, was found not guilty of conspiracy to commit arson.
Mr. Lavrynovych said at the trial, which took place at the Old Bailey, London’s central criminal court, that he did not know who Mr. Starmer was at the time of the arson attacks. A Ukrainian who worked in construction and as a mover, Mr. Lavrynovych said that he had just “wanted some additional money” when an anonymous account approached him through a social media group for Ukrainians seeking work in London in late 2024.
Evidence presented at the trial showed that Mr. Lavrynovych had previously been recruited by the same Telegram account to spray paint anti-Muslim graffiti at mosques in London and to put up posters in England advertising a far-right group, Direct Action U.K.
The case follows a spate of arson attacks, acts of sabotage and political interference in Europe that law enforcement officials have attributed to Russian intelligence, including a fire at a Ukrainian-owned warehouse in London in March 2024.
Prosecutors in Mr. Lavrynovych’s case did not present evidence on who was operating the EL Money account, with the lead prosecutor, Duncan Atkinson, telling the jury, “It is no part of your considerations to decide who ‘EL Money’ is and what reason he might have had to coordinate these actions.”
Mr. Lavrynovych said he believed the account was operated by multiple people, sometimes men and sometimes women, and that he felt he could not refuse any instructions because they “knew so much about me,” including where he lived and the fact that his grandmother was in the same apartment.
His defense lawyer, James Scobie, formally applied for the release of any material on whether the account was connected to foreign intelligence services or to “some form of potentially state-run or politically-run organization.” But the request was denied by the trial judge on the basis that jurors could only consider what the defendants knew and thought at the time of the fires.
The first fire targeted an SUV that Mr. Starmer had previously owned, which went up in flames on a residential London street at 3 a.m. on May 8, 2025. Three days later, a fire was set at the front door of a house with several apartments that was managed by a company where Mr. Starmer had previously been a director and shareholder.
And early on May 12, the townhouse that Mr. Starmer shared with his family in the Kentish Town neighborhood before moving to 10 Downing Street in 2024 also had its front door set alight.
Mr. Starmer still owns the townhouse, and when the fire was set, his sister-in-law was living there with her family, including her 9-year-old daughter, Mr. Atkinson said.
While no one was hurt, he said, the fires at both homes had “put the lives of the occupants at risk.”
For each fire, phone records presented to the court showed that Mr. Lavrynovych had received detailed instructions from the EL Money account, including addresses, photos, information on a particular mix of flammable liquids and how to cover his face to avoid identification.
Messages showed that the people behind EL Money demanded proof of the arson attacks from Mr. Lavrynovych and wanted them to make the national news. In exchange, they promised payments of thousands of pounds in cryptocurrency, which were never received.
Kinga Redlowska, the head of the Belgium-based Centre for Finance and Security, said that, based on studies of incidents across Europe, the case “ticks all the boxes” for what the center has identified as “a typical Russian-linked act of sabotage.”
Ukrainians have been recruited to carry out arson attacks in several countries and treated as “disposable,” she said. Like Mr. Lavrynovych, many were given limited information on the tasks they were given and whom they were commissioned by. “Russian sabotage campaigns increasingly aim to create psychological and political effects rather than simply physical destruction,” Dr. Redlowska said in an interview.
Russia has repeatedly denied any campaigns to destabilize other countries.
Hours after Mr. Lavrynovych completed his final task, he was sent some advice by EL Money, prosecutors said. The message, originally in Russian but translated into English for the jury, read: “Look, you attacked the home of a very high-ranking person in Britain. I’ll send you money, you need to leave the city.”
“If the police detain you, secretly write the word ‘geranium’ and I’ll send a lawyer to you, I’ll give you money for a week and a new phone,” the message continued.
Mr. Lavrynovych was arrested early the next morning and said he did not follow the advice, after having his phone immediately confiscated by the police.
Helen Flanagan, the head of Counter Terrorism Policing, said in a statement on Monday, “Crimes, such as arson, being directed by anonymous online accounts promising payment, is a recurring trend in our casework.
“Our message to anyone who might be approached in this way, or thinking about doing similar, is to think again,” she said.
Lizzie Dearden contributed reporting.
