A London court has scheduled the trial for April 2026 for two Ukrainians accused of orchestrating a series of arsons on properties linked to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The accused, Ukrainians Roman Lavronovich and Petro Pochinok, along with Romanian Stanislav Carpiuc, pleaded not guilty during a hearing held today at London’s Old Bailey court, a spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service told Radio Free Europe. Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb ordered all three to remain in custody until the next hearing in October, with the trial date set for April 2026.
British counter-terrorism police are investigating how and why the three men, plus an unnamed fourth individual, allegedly set fire to a car and two houses connected to the British Prime Minister. No one was injured in the May fires.
A fourth man was arrested on June 2 at London’s Stansted Airport in connection with an arson earlier this week and has since been released on bail.
Starmer has called the incidents “an attack on all of us, on our democracy and the values we stand for.”
The Financial Times, citing unnamed government officials, reported that police are investigating whether Russian intelligence agencies played a role in recruiting the men. Ukrainian police have also stated they are cooperating with British and other European law enforcement agencies to determine if there is a connection to “foreign intelligence services or other terrorist groups.”
On the same day the fourth unidentified man was arrested, the Ukrainian military intelligence agency issued an unusual public warning, stating that Russian intelligence agencies have “intensified” efforts to recruit Ukrainians for various tasks. Viktor Yahun, a former deputy director of Ukraine’s main security agency (SBU), told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service that Telegram channels and chats—particularly those aimed at job seekers—are among the tools Russian intelligence agencies use to identify and recruit people, some of whom are unsuspecting. These are “modern methods of attracting people who are in a difficult situation and trying to somehow make a living,” Yahun said, adding that these Ukrainians often seek jobs on Russian-language sites, not Polish or British ones.
