A 23-year-old Russian diplomat offered his agents Russian citizenship in exchange for arson attacks on the British prime minister’s home – and then vanished from social media when confronted by the BBC.
Evgeny Lyukshin, the son of a senior Moscow official, is the man behind the handler known as “EL” or “El Money” who directed Ukrainian builder Roman Lavrynovych to set fire to properties linked to Sir Keir Starmer, the BBC has found. Lyukshin used the messaging app Telegram to recruit Lavrynovych from a group for Ukrainians looking for work in London, offering payment and later boasting: “Look, you attacked the home of a very high-ranking person in Britain. I'll send you money, you need to leave the city.”
“Russian diplomat Evgeny Lyukshin directed arson attacks on Keir Starmer's properties, the BBC reveals.”
But Lavrynovych was arrested within hours. On Monday the 22-year-old was convicted at the Old Bailey of conspiring to commit arson, alongside Romanian-born Stanislav Carpiuc, 27. A third defendant, Petro Pochynok, 35, was found not guilty.
The attacks began on 8 May last year, when a Toyota RAV4 once owned by Starmer was set ablaze in Kentish Town, north London. Three nights later Lavrynovych firebombed a north London home, and on 12 May he targeted a house occupied by the prime minister’s sister-in-law and her family – a property Starmer still owns. The Old Bailey heard the middle-of-the-night fires “posed a serious threat to life and left householders terrified”.
Lyukshin, whom the BBC identified through a trail of Telegram messages, offered Russian citizenship for further attacks and glorified President Vladimir Putin. He also ran accounts and groups that created fake far-right and Muslim organisations to orchestrate acts of vandalism and stir division. One such group, called Direct Action, organised the vandalism of six mosques and an Islamic school in London, with racist graffiti. EL then posted a job ad asking for photos of the damage to circulate online.
The Russian embassy rejected the findings: “We reject any attempt to associate Russia or its foreign ministry with unlawful activities,” it said, adding that Russia poses “no threat to the United Kingdom”.
Lyukshin did not respond to the BBC’s questions. Hours after being contacted, a propaganda channel he had used disappeared. The Metropolitan Police has said it is investigating the mosque vandalism as anti-Muslim hate crimes, but no arrests have been made.