In St. Petersburg, a suspect was arrested for setting fire to a relay cabinet

A court in St. Petersburg arrested 21-year-old Bohdan Bondarev for two months, who is accused of setting fire to a relay cabinet. This was reported by Sever.Realii with reference to the joint press service of the city’s courts.

According to the investigation, on February 10, Bondarev damaged the relay box at the Sergiyevo-Strelna railway station, and also produced 16 campaign leaflets criticizing the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin.

During the search, Bondarev allegedly confessed to collaborating with the “Freedom of Russia” legion – a paramilitary formation of Russian citizens fighting on the side of Ukraine. Investigators assert that the arrested person, on behalf of the unit, also monitored the work of scientific and production enterprises from the sphere of the military-industrial complex. Bondarev is accused of committing a terrorist attack.

• Earlier, bank employee Vyacheslav Lutor was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the case of attempted treason in St. Petersburg. According to the investigation, he was in correspondence with the Legion “Freedom of Russia” and was going to leave for Ukraine to fight on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
• At the end of January, a court in St. Petersburg sentenced 19-year-old local resident Vyacheslav Zaitsev to 8 years in prison. He was found guilty in the case of sabotage on the railway. Zaitsev set fire to the relay cabinet near the Gorelovo station. He allegedly did it at the behest of the “curator” for 10,000 rubles.
• Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, Russian law enforcement agencies regularly report on the detention of people who tried to set fire to relay cabinets and damage other infrastructure objects. Such actions are regarded by the authorities as sabotage and attempts to commit a terrorist attack, and law enforcement agencies claim that the Ukrainian side is involved in them.
• Legion “Freedom of Russia” is a military battalion consisting of citizens of Russia and part of the Foreign Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In Russia, it is recognized as a terrorist organization. His political representative is Ilya Ponomarev, an emigrated former member of the State Duma.