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A court at the Old Bailey has heard that a Russian-speaking individual recruited Ukrainian men and offered them payment to carry out arson attacks on properties connected to the UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer. The three men implicated in the case—Roman Lavrynovych, 22, Petro Pochynok, 35, both Ukrainian nationals, and Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, a Romanian national originally from Ukraine—deny all charges against them.
All three London residents face accusations of conspiring together and with others to damage property by fire between 1 April and 13 May 2025. Additionally, Lavrynovych is charged with deliberately setting fire to two properties linked to Sir Keir in north London on 11 and 12 May 2025, with intent to endanger life. He also faces alternative charges relating to recklessness concerning the risk to life from these fires.
According to prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC, three fires were deliberately started over a three-night span in a North London residential area during May 2025. Atkinson described the proximity of the fires in both time and location as “beyond a coincidence,” noting that the properties targeted had connections to the prime minister. One of the vehicles involved was a car previously owned by Sir Keir, while the residences affected included a house managed by a company where the prime minister was formerly a director and shareholder, and another home still owned by Sir Keir but occupied by his sister-in-law.
Evidence presented in court included communications recovered from phones associated with the defendants, showing contact between them both before and during the times when the fires occurred. Lavrynovych received offers of payment to commit the arson from an individual known only by the pseudonym ‘El Money’ via the Telegram messaging app, a contact with whom Carpiuc also communicated. The prosecutor explained that ‘El Money’ used Russian to communicate, unlike the defendants, who otherwise spoke Ukrainian. Atkinson instructed jurors that they should not concern themselves with identifying ‘El Money’ or exploring any potential motives behind the coordination of the incidents. Furthermore, the defendants have not presented any evidence of political or ideological reasons for their actions, which appeared to be driven solely by financial incentives. Whether the men knew about the prime minister’s connection to the properties is also irrelevant to the charges
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