KREMENCHUK, Ukraine — Ukrainian authorities have convicted multiple teenagers of sabotage and terrorism charges, revealing a covert Russian strategy to recruit vulnerable youth for attacks on their own country. The cases highlight a growing trend in which impoverished minors are lured via social media platforms like Telegram with promises of "easy money" to commit acts of arson and explosion.
Yaroslav Suzanskyi, now 18, was 16 when he responded to a Telegram ad offering approximately $165 for an odd job, which turned out to be a task to set fire to a railway relay cabinet. His financial desperation was acute; at the time, his family had fallen behind on bills due to a bureaucratic error in child-support payments, and he had only about $5 in savings. After completing the initial task, Suzanskyi was offered 60,000 hryvnias (roughly $1,430) to plant an explosive device. He was intercepted by Ukrainian intelligence officers at a library in Kyiv before he could complete the assignment, resulting in a five-year prison sentence.
Another case involves Oleksii Babakov, 17, and his former cadet corps friend Vikentii, also 17. Babakov, who had spent eight months under Russian occupation in Vovchansk before relocating to Poland, saw a similar Telegram ad while in exile. He was tasked with recruiting other young people, including Vikentii, whom he told could earn up to $3,000 a month. Vikentii, who was 15 at the time, initially believed he would only be manufacturing explosives but was later instructed to plant one. He left a device in a trash bin outside a police station in Kharkiv; the explosion caused no injuries. Ukrainian authorities later tracked Babakov in Poland and deported him to Ukraine, where he and Vikentii were eventually detained together.
Vikentii was convicted of committing a terrorist act and sentenced to three years in prison, while Babakov was convicted of inciting and assisting a terrorist attack and sentenced to four years. Both are currently serving their sentences at a juvenile correctional colony in Kremenchuk. A third teen, Maksym Parshyn, 17, from the Donetsk region, was recruited through Telegram to set fire to a railway relay cabinet for $300. Although he refused a subsequent offer to burn military vehicles, he later accepted a $3,000 payment to set fire to a post office, an act he filmed with a friend before being detained.
According to the Ukrainian Justice Ministry, 13 minors are currently serving sentences in Russia-related cases, including five girls, while more than 300 juveniles have been detained on similar charges. A report by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights noted a surge in credible allegations that Russia has used Ukrainian children in government-controlled territory to conduct surveillance, transmit military information, or commit sabotage and arson. Russian officials deny these allegations, instead blaming Ukrainian intelligence services for recruiting Russian minors to carry out sabotage within Russia.
<small>Source: Yahoo News — read the original story there.</small>