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A UK court has found three men guilty of carrying out an arson attack on a London warehouse storing satellite equipment for Ukraine in a plot linked to Russia’s Wagner mercenary group.
Some shit you should know before you read: If you’re unaware, the Wagner Group is a Russian private military company (PMC) that operates as an unofficial arm of the Russian state. Founded around 2014 by Yevgeny Prigozhin (a close ally of President Vladimir Putin and a former caterer turned warlord), the group initially gained notoriety for its covert involvement in Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its operations in eastern Ukraine. Unlike Russia’s formal military, Wagner is unbound by international military norms, allowing the Kremlin to conduct operations with plausible deniability. It has been used for combat missions, political interference, and resource extraction in conflict zones including Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic, Mali, and more recently, Ukraine. In 2023, Prigozhin led a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military leadership, and two months later, he died in a suspicious plane crash near Moscow. Following his death, Wagner’s leadership structure fractured, and the group was largely absorbed into Russia’s Ministry of Defense, though remnants continue to operate under different names.
What’s going on now: In a notable development, a UK court found Jakeem Rose, Ugnius Asmena, and Nii Mensah guilty of aggravated arson with intent to endanger life for their roles in a targeted firebombing of a warehouse in east London back in March 2024. The warehouse was used to store humanitarian aid and Starlink satellite equipment destined for Ukraine. The fire caused more than $1 million in damage. Surveillance footage and a livestream video showed Mensah and Rose dousing the building with gasoline and setting it on fire while Asmena and English, the driver, waited in the car. English, who claimed he was unaware of the plot, was acquitted.
The group was recruited by Dylan Earl, a 21-year-old who had previously contacted a Telegram bot known as “Privet Bot,” which is believed to be operated by Russia’s Wagner Group. Earl, along with his associate Jake Reeves, had already pleaded guilty to aggravated arson and offenses under the UK’s new National Security Act of 2023, making Earl the first person convicted under the law. The court was shown hundreds of encrypted messages between Earl, the bot, and the attackers, revealing that the arson was just the first of several planned missions. Further plots included planned arson attacks on two luxury businesses in London’s Mayfair district, owned by prominent Russian dissident Yevgeny Chichvarkin, as well as a conspiracy to kidnap him. Prosecutors argued convincingly that the operation was conducted on behalf of the Russian state, using local criminals as proxies to carry out covert sabotage.
The defendants’ motivations ranged from ideological alignment with Russia to financial gain, with some attackers lured by promises of cash payouts and others expressing admiration for Russia’s anti-Western stance. Mensah even sent celebratory messages to Earl after the attack, boasting that the fire had made the news.
This all comes as part of a growing wave of covert sabotage operations across Europe that Western officials attribute to the Russian state and its proxies. These so-called “shadow” attacks have surged since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Russian government has continuously denied these claims, calling it “Western propaganda.”
