Two teenagers who set fire to a railside equipment box in Moscow have been charged with carrying out sabotage for Ukraine, Russian investigators said Tuesday.
The incident is the latest in a spate of suspicious fires and derailments on Russia’s rail network that Moscow has blamed on Kyiv and its supporters.
“Two suspects were identified and detained at their homes in the town of Dolgoprudny near Moscow. They turned out to be 17-year-old teenagers,” police told the TASS news agency.
According to investigators, a supporter of Ukraine reached out to one of the teenagers online and persuaded him to carry out the attack for $150.
The suspect then asked his friend to help and they both traveled to Mark station in the suburbs of northern Moscow, where they set fire to the cabinet.
The pair have been remanded in custody on sabotage charges, which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, depending on the severity of the crime.
Kyiv, which does not typically claim responsibility, often cheers attacks on Russia’s railway network, which it argues Moscow uses to move troops and fuel for its offensive.
Last month, Russia arrested a Belarusian man for placing explosives on two trains traveling through Siberia, in a case it also blamed on Ukraine.