00:00to identify where they are tasking often young criminals to undertake their work on their behalf
00:05so that we can intervene and disrupt their activity.
00:10Three men were found guilty in early July of an arson attack on a warehouse linked to Ukraine
00:19on behalf of the terrorist Wagner Group. About £1 million worth of damage was caused by the
00:27blaze at an industrial unit in Leighton, which is of course in East London, on March 20, 2024.
00:35Jurors at the Old Bailey heard how 23-year-old Ni Mensah had live-streamed on his phone as he
00:43and also 23-year-old Jakeem Rose set fire to the building, while fixer 20-year-old Agnus Asmenah
00:51waited in a car. The attack was orchestrated by 20-year-old Dylan Earle, along with Gatwick
00:58Airport cleaner 23-year-old Jake Reeves, who had targeted the warehouse because it was being
01:07used to supply humanitarian aid and Starlink satellite equipment to Ukraine. The group
01:16went on to plot more arson attacks in a restaurant and wine shop in Mayfair and the kidnap of the owner,
01:26the wealthy Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin, who was described as a high-profile Russian dissident
01:35and refugee. Prosecutor Duncan Penny said that while the arsonists were motivated by the promise of money,
01:44Earl and Reeves had orchestrated it for Russia. Earl had told a Wagner Group operative he met on
01:52Telegram he was keen to carry out a series of missions, of which the Leighton fire was to be
02:00just the first. The jury was told Reeves was also prepared to accept money from a foreign intelligence
02:08service to target the Russian dissident and his London-based businesses. Earl and Reeves had
02:16admitted aggravated arson on behalf of the Wagner Group. This is one of our first cases involving the
02:23Wagner Group, but absolutely not the first case involving the Russian state and their projected
02:28activity in the United Kingdom.
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