In May 2025, a car once owned by the UK prime minister was set on fire on a north London street; days later, two homes linked to him were deliberately set ablaze, one while his sister-in-law was inside with her family. Two men have now been convicted of those arsons, but the case has opened a window into a broader and more unsettling reality: Russia's use of proxy sabotage on British soil, part of what security officials call hybrid warfare.
The attacks targeted property connected to Sir Keir Starmer. On 8 May 2025, a Toyota he had previously owned was found burning in Kentish Town. On 11 May, a fire was discovered at flats in Islington where he once lived. The following day, the entrance to a home in Kentish Town that Starmer still owned and rented to his sister-in-law was set alight. She was inside with her family at the time but escaped unharmed.
“Two men convicted of arson attacks on Keir Starmer's properties; the case reveals Russian hybrid warfare tactics in the UK.”
In June 2026, an Old Bailey jury convicted Roman Lavrynovych, a 22-year-old Ukrainian national, and Stanislav Carpiuc, a 27-year-old Ukrainian-born Romanian national, of conspiring to commit arson. A third man, Petro Pochynok, was acquitted. The prosecution said Lavrynovych had been recruited online by a Russian-speaking Telegram user using the alias "El Money", who promised payment for the attacks. Lavrynovych never received the thousands of pounds he was promised; instead, after the final arson, "El Money" sent messages saying "there is news, you'll get crypto" and "you need to throw away the clothes".
Shortly after the verdict, a BBC Panorama investigation revealed that "El Money" was likely a 23-year-old Russian diplomat named Evgeny Lyukshin, the son of a senior official, who had been schooled in information warfare. The BBC found that "El Money" had offered Russian citizenship in return for other attacks and glorified Vladimir Putin in messages. The defendants themselves were not shown to have any political or ideological motivation; they were essentially hired hands. Prosecutors told the jury that it was "no part of your considerations" to decide who "El Money" was.
The attacks fit a pattern that Sir Richard Moore, the former head of MI6, said showed Putin was "trying to intimidate" the UK with sabotage, arson and cyber attacks on British streets. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Sir Richard said proxy attacks meant Britain needed a "discussion" about "the balance of resourcing for security and defence". Starmer himself, speaking from the G7 summit in France, said the attack should be seen in the "broader context" of Russia's war in Ukraine. He cited Ukrainian territorial gains and the impact of sanctions, and called for the G7 to "ramp up the pressure" on Moscow. The UK subsequently announced 70 new sanctions targeting Russia's so-called shadow fleet and finance networks used to evade Western sanctions.
For UK readers, the case is a concrete example of a threat the security services have warned about for years: that Russia is prepared to carry out disruptive and intimidating acts on British soil, using unwitting or paid proxies, as part of a wider campaign to undermine support for Ukraine. The attacks were not large-scale, but they targeted a sitting prime minister's family, raising serious questions about protection and deterrence. The fact that the perpetrators were recruited online through a Telegram chat shows how low-cost and deniable these operations can be.
Q: Who was behind the arson attacks on Keir Starmer's properties? The attacks were directed by a Russian-speaking Telegram user known as "El Money", whom the BBC identified as 23-year-old Russian diplomat Evgeny Lyukshin. The two men convicted—Lavrynovych and Carpiuc—acted on his instructions and were promised payment.
Q: Why did the attackers target Keir Starmer? The prosecution said the defendants did not necessarily know the property was connected to the prime minister; they were paid to commit arson. However, the choice of targets clearly linked to Starmer suggests the organiser intended to intimidate the UK government in the context of Russia's war in Ukraine.
Q: What is hybrid warfare and how does this fit? Hybrid warfare uses a mix of conventional and unconventional methods—sabotage, cyber attacks, disinformation—to achieve political goals without triggering a full military response. The Starmer arsons, along with other proxy attacks in Europe, are examples of Russia trying to destabilise and distract countries supporting Ukraine.
What happens next is uncertain. The two convicted men await sentencing. The UK government has not officially attributed the attacks to the Kremlin, but Starmer and former MI6 chief Sir Richard Moore have made clear they see a Russian hand. The case is likely to fuel further debate about Britain's resilience against hybrid threats and whether defence spending—which Starmer has said involves "hard-edged" decisions—is sufficient to counter them.