Since Friday December 20, a series of incidents involving attempted arson attacks have targeted infrastructure in Russia. Around 20 separate cases have been recorded, mainly in Moscow and St. Petersburg and their outskirts, according to Russian news agencies TASS and Fontanka.
Among the targets of these arsons are banks, post offices, shopping centers, military recruiting offices and other administrative buildings.
Russian authorities attribute these acts to individuals recruited online by fraudsters promising money in exchange for these attacks. CCTV footage sometimes shows the perpetrators filming their actions with mobile phones. Sberbank, Russia's main bank, reported a 30% increase in arson attempts in one week, according to the Ria Novosti agency.
Surprisingly, many of those arrested are retirees. The Russian security services (FSB) accuse Ukrainian fraudsters of manipulating these people by posing as security agents. The latter allegedly asked them to carry out criminal acts in exchange for sums of money or access to blocked bank accounts. kyiv has not reacted to these allegations.
This phenomenon takes place in a context of increased tensions between kyiv and Moscow, since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, in February 2022. Military recruitment offices have been particularly targeted with Molotov cocktails, in reaction to campaigns unpopular conscription plans. Russian courts have sentenced the identified perpetrators of these attacks to heavy prison terms.
