A teenager was detained in Tomsk on suspicion of sabotage

A teenager was detained for trying to set fire to a relay box on a railway in the Tomsk region. This was reported by the Eastern Interregional Investigation Department of the SKR Transport.

According to the investigation, in September, during the race between the Tomsk-1 and Tomsk-2 stations, a minor tried to set fire to the relay box with the help of a “Molotov cocktail” for a monetary reward. A criminal case has been initiated under the article of attempted sabotage.

The Shot Telegram channel previously reported that the detainee is 16 years old, a 10th grade student at one of the city’s high schools. The name of the detainee has not been released.

• After the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, and especially after the announcement by Vladimir Putin of the so-called partial mobilization, opponents of the war in many regions of Russia began to set fire to military enlistment offices, police departments, city administration buildings, and relay boxes on railways. At the moment, several hundred such incidents are known. More than 60 people were detained for attacks on railway infrastructure alone.
• At first, criminal cases of arson were considered under the articles of damage to someone else’s property or hooliganism. Later, the authorities declared that such cases would be regarded as acts of terrorism and sabotage and would be punished by imprisonment for many years, up to life. The first sentence, in which the arson of the military enlistment office was qualified as a terrorist act, was handed down at the end of January 2023. Now dozens of citizens have been sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.