A Russian court in Siberia has sentenced a man to 12 years in prison for “terrorism” after he set fire to a district military replacement office. It is the first judgment of this kind in Russia, reports the state news agency Tass.
The court saw it as proven that the man had started the fire in the western Siberian city of Nizhnevartovsk in early May. According to the indictment, it burned over an area of one square meter and nobody was injured.
In recent months, Russia has tightened numerous laws to punish criticism of and resistance to the war more severely. Since the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine launched by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, there have been numerous arson attacks on military installations. The district military replacement offices in particular, which serve to mobilize the population, have already been the target of attacks on several occasions.