Russiabacked

Prosecutors said the two young defendants planned a ‘sustained campaign of terrorism and sabotage’ backed by Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries.

A British judge has handed lengthy jail sentences to the two young ringleaders of a group who carried out arson attacks in the United Kingdom on behalf of the Russian state-funded private military firm, the Wagner Group.

Prosecutors said on Friday that Dylan Earl, 21, and Jake Reeves, 24, planned “a sustained campaign of terrorism and sabotage on UK soil” with the backing of Russia’s notorious Wagner mercenary group, which has been accused of war crimes in zones of conflict around the world, including murder, torture and rape.

Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb handed Earl a 17-year prison sentence, with a further six years on extended licence, for his “leading role” in planning several attacks, including one in March last year in which a London warehouse storing humanitarian aid and Starlink satellite equipment destined for Ukraine was set on fire.

During the trial, prosecutors said the 21-year-old had discussed with his Wagner handler plans to kidnap the cofounder of finance app Revolut and to torch a warehouse in the Czech Republic.

A police search of Earl’s phone uncovered videos of the east London warehouse fire being started, while he was also found to be in contact with Wagner members on the messaging app Telegram.

17 years in prison.

CCTV, phone data and forensic evidence helped convict Dylan Earl, one of five men involved in a Russian-ordered arson attack on a warehouse in Leyton.

The blaze caused around £1 million of damage, including to aid bound for Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/m96hNx6fO2

— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) October 24, 2025

Fellow defendant Reeves, 24, was handed 12 years in prison, with an additional year on extended licence, for his role in recruiting other men to take part in the Wagner-backed attacks.

The pair are the first people to be convicted under the UK’s new National Security Act, introduced in 2023 to readapt anti-espionage legislation to counter modern-day threats from foreign powers.

Russian-backed ‘hostile agents’

Earl and Reeves “acted willingly as hostile agents on behalf of the Russian state”, Dominic Murphy, the head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said in a statement.

“This case is a clear example of an organisation linked to the Russian state using ‘proxies’ – in this case British men – to carry out very serious criminal activity in this country on their behalf,” Murphy said.

“In recent years, we have seen a significant increase in the number of counter-state-threat investigations and the use of ‘proxies’ is a new tactic favoured by hostile states such as Russia,” he added.

In July, three other British men were found guilty of aggravated arson for their role in the warehouse attack in east London, which caused one million pounds ($1.3m) in damage and put dozens of firefighters’ lives at risk.

Nii Mensah, 23, was sentenced to nine years in prison; Jakeem Rose, 23, was jailed for eight years and 10 months; while Ugnius Asmena, 21, was handed seven years.

Ashton Evans, 20, was also jailed for nine years for failing to disclose information about terrorist acts relating to another arson plot targeting two central London businesses owned by a Russian dissident.

British authorities allege that Russia is conducting an increasingly bold espionage and sabotage campaign in the UK, with the head of the MI5 security service, Ken McCallum, saying Moscow is “committed to causing havoc and destruction”.

In a separate case this week, the Metropolitan Police arrested three men from west and central London, also suspected of spying for Russia.

The details of their alleged crimes have not been made public, but they have also been charged under the 2023 National Security Act “on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service”.

After Monday’s mass raids, pro-Western President Maia Sandu once again accuses Moscow of interference.

At least 74 people have been arrested in Moldova over an alleged plot to organise “mass riots” in the Eastern European nation as President Maia Sandu has accused Russia of an attempt to sway next weekend’s parliamentary elections.

The police said the suspects were detained on Monday after more than 250 raids were carried out across the country. “The searches are related to a criminal case into the preparation of mass riots and destabilisation, which were coordinated from the Russian Federation through criminal elements,” police said in a statement on Monday.

Victor Furtuna, a leading Moldovan prosecutor, said those arrested were aged 19 to 45 and most of them had received training in Serbia.

Pro-Western Sandu, who has described Sunday’s voting as the “most consequential” in the nation’s history, accused the Kremlin of pouring “hundreds of millions of euros” into the country in an attempt to sway the elections.

“People are intoxicated daily with lies,” Sandu said after Monday’s raids. “Hundreds of individuals are paid to provoke disorder, violence and spread fear.”

“I appeal to all citizens: We must not allow our country to be handed over to foreign interests,” the president added.

Moscow has long denied meddling in Moldova’s domestic affairs.

The Kremlin has also been accused of interfering in the politics of Moldova’s neighbour, Romania.

Last year, far-right politician Calin Georgescu won the first round of Romania’s presidential election before it was annulled by the Constitutional Court, which accused Russia of meddling in the electoral process. Moscow denied any involvement.

Georgescu, a strong critic of NATO, was barred from competing in this year’s election, rerun by Romania’s central election authority.

Sandu’s ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) has sought to cast Moldova’s elections as critical not just for Moldova but also for the wider continent. The president has warned that the country would be used as “a launchpad for hybrid attacks on the European Union” if it were run by a pro-Russian government.

Amid widespread Western accusations of Russian interference in Moldova, German, French and Polish leaders have recently visited the country, which applied for EU membership in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Although the Moldovan government is ahead in most pre-election polls, political analysts believe the result could be close.

The opposition, led by the pro-Russian Patriotic bloc, is trying to tap into voters’ frustrations over economic hardships and unfulfilled reform promises.

Igor Dodon, a former president who is the joint leader of the Patriotic bloc, said on the Telegram messaging app that some of its members were targeted in Monday’s raids.

The Moldovan government “is trying to intimidate us, frighten the people and silence us”, he said.

Last month, the fugitive Moldovan businessman Ilan Shor, who has been sanctioned by the United States and EU for being an alleged Russian agent, offered his countrymen $3,000 to join antigovernment protests.

With more than one million Moldovans living abroad, diaspora voters could play an important role in Sunday’s voting.

A record 300,000 Moldovans in the diaspora cast ballots in the second round of last year’s presidential election, helping Sandu win re-election in a country whose population is only 2.4 million.