Over the past three years, every new headline about an arson attack on Russian railway infrastructure, a police station, or a conscription office has raised the same set of questions. Was the perpetrator a lone anti-war activist trying to hinder Moscow’s invasion? A scam victim, duped into thinking their stolen savings would be returned if they bombed a municipal building? Or someone working for Ukrainian intelligence — knowingly or not?

This week, three men were sentenced in a case that appears to have a novel explanation: the group’s ringleader claims he orchestrated a railway attack as part of a scheme to help Russian law enforcement by infiltrating the pro-Ukrainian Freedom of Russia Legion. The only hitch? The Russian authorities weren’t in on his plan. Here’s what we know about the case, as reported by Mediazona.

On May 19, a military court in Yekaterinburg sentenced three students from Russia’s Sverdlovsk region for attempting to set fire to a railway relay cabinet. Arseny Klimin, 20, was sentenced to seven years in prison, while Danila Eliseev, 20, and Nikita Sukhorukov, 21, each received eight-year sentences, according to a Mediazona correspondent present in the courtroom. All three were also given one year of probation following their release.

According to prosecutors, the defendants acted as an organized group and attempted to set fire to three relay cabinets in Yekaterinburg between June 1 and September 5, 2023. Investigators allege they were operating in coordination with a man named Andrey Martynov, who is suspected to be a member of the Freedom of Russia Legion, a formation of Russian soldiers fighting for Ukraine.

Prosecutors named Klimin as the group’s ringleader. They said he had previously cooperated in an unofficial capacity with the Russian Interior Ministry's Center for Combating Extremism (Center E) but later chose to join the Freedom of Russia Legion.

In his closing statement, however, Klimin cast this decision in a different light. He said he was raised in a patriotic family and had long dreamed of joining the military, but was unable to serve due to his hemophilia. As an alternative, he claimed, he decided to “help out here, in the heart of the Urals,” and organized the attacks not to support Ukraine, but to aid Russian law enforcement. According to Klimin, he and a separate group of friends — not including his co-defendants — were attempting to sabotage Ukrainian intelligence operations. He said he had infiltrated the Freedom of Russia Legion in order to gather information on planned attacks and expose its contacts within Russia.

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According to the prosecution, a Legion member promised Klimin 8,000 rubles ($100) for each successful arson attack, targeting six separate railway relay cabinets, and offered him full membership if he provided video evidence of each one.

After receiving the assignment, Klimin said, he initially tried to ask the officers he had worked with at Center E to provide him with photos and videos of burning relay cabinets to use as fake evidence — but they “didn’t respond.” He then asked them to station security around the cabinets, he claims, though the officers said in court that they didn’t understand his message, describing it as “incomplete and disjointed.”

“I regret not thinking to build a fake relay cabinet,” Klimin said in his final remarks. “I truly believe I should be convicted of stupidity. I never planned any terrorist attacks.”

After his former handlers from Center E offered no help, Klimin said, he approached Eliseev. Without disclosing who had ordered the arsons, he offered him between 2,000 rubles ($25) and 8,000 rubles ($100) per target, depending on how many cabinets he managed to burn. Eliseev, afraid to carry out the attacks alone, recruited his friend, Nikita Sukhorukov, who owed him money.

On September 4, Sukhorukov attempted to set fire to a cabinet but was unable to break open its metal cover. His car drew the attention of traffic police, who found bottles of solvent, a hammer, lighters, and a gas wrench in the trunk. They also discovered photos of relay cabinets on his phone.

Sukhorukov was arrested, with Klimin and Eliseev taken into custody soon after. Sukhorukov and Eliseev later told the court they had been beaten during their detention, but an internal review found no misconduct by law enforcement.

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Prosecutors argued that Klimin was trying to curry favor with law enforcement but never informed them of his contact with the Freedom of Russia Legion and was not acting on official orders. They said that Eliseev and Sukhorukov were motivated by money, and claimed the two “couldn’t not know” that the relay cabinet attacks were aiding Ukraine, since “the media writes about this.”

The prosecution requested 14 years and 5 months in prison for Klimin, along with 18 months of probation, and 12 years and 6 months for both Eliseev and Sukhorukov, also followed by 18 months of probation.

All three defendants partially admitted guilt, acknowledging that they planned the arson attempts but denying that their actions constituted terrorism.

Eliseev's and Sukhorukov's defense lawyers asked the court to acquit their clients or reduce the charges to attempted arson. Klimin’s attorney also sought a lesser charge, citing his client’s voluntary confession, expressions of remorse, and cooperation with investigators. Klimin himself insisted he had never intended to carry out the attacks, adding that despite his health condition, he “would have taken the chance to go to the front and atone for his guilt with blood.”