Russia’s Wagner Group planned arson attack on London business with links to Ukraine, court is told

LONDON (AP) - The trial has started of six men accused of arson at an east London business with links to Ukraine's war effort against Russia, with prosecutors saying Wednesday that the evidence against them was "overwhelming."

At the start of the trial at London’s Central Criminal Court, which is better known as the Old Bailey, prosecutors said the March 20, 2024 attack was planned by agents of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, which the British government has deemed a terrorist organization.

Prosecutors said the Wagner Group recruited four men - Jakeem Rose, 23, Ugnius Asmena, 20, Nii Mensah, 23 and Paul English, 61 - who have been charged with setting fire to the industrial unit in Leyton, in the east of the capital, which supplied StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine.

An additional two other men - Ashton Evans, 20, and Dmitrijus Paulauskas, 23 - are facing charges that they withheld information about upcoming terrorist attacks.

The court was told that around 1 million pounds ($1.35 million) worth of damage was caused by the blaze. Prosecutors also said there were plans for similar attacks on two other businesses in the upmarket London neighborhood of Mayfair - a wine shop called Hedonism and a restaurant called Hide. Both are owned by an unidentified Russian dissident who has been vocal in his criticism of President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine. He has, prosecutors said, driven aid trucks from the U.K. to Ukraine.

"This was deliberate and calculated criminality, at the behest of foreign influence,” said prosecutor Duncan Penny. “In the case of these defendants at the time of the fire they may have been ignorant of that influence and the motive may have been financial - good old-fashioned greed. For others, however, it appears to have been both political and ideological."

Jurors heard the attack was orchestrated by Dylan Earl, 20, and Jake Reeves, 23, who have already admitted aggravated arson on behalf of the Wagner Group. Earl has also admitted to plotting to set fire to the two Mayfair businesses.

Earl, he said, was the "architect" of the attack and had come into contact with the Wagner Group via a channel on the Telegram messaging app.

"It appears that Dylan Earl expressed a willingness to undertake 'missions' of which the Leyton arson attack was the first," said Penny. "It is apparent that Dylan Earl knew he was acting against Ukrainian, and for Russian, interests."

Earl was the first person to be charged under the U.K.’s National Security Act 2023, which created new measures to combat espionage, political interference and benefiting from foreign intelligence services. It also gave authorities additional powers to search and seize property and detain and arrest suspects.

Penny said the evidence against those facing charges was "overwhelming" and that CCTV, traffic cameras and phone evidence will be presented to the jury. He said one of the suspects, Mensah, filmed the arson attack on his mobile phone and livestreamed it on FaceTime.