Russian Northern Fleet Contract Soldier Sets Fire to Aircraft and Armored Vehicle

A Russian Northern Fleet military court has sentenced a 20-year-old contract soldier to 15 years in prison for setting fire to military equipment and an aircraft.

He was found guilty of carrying out two terrorist attacks in the Murmansk region, according to The Moscow Times, citing the court’s ruling.

In May 2025, the soldier acted under instructions from phone scammers who posed as bank officials, as well as representatives of the FSB and the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. They first defrauded him of 350,000 rubles, then convinced him to commit acts of sabotage, claiming it was necessary to ‘avoid consequences’ for allegedly funding the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

According to case materials, on May 14 the private went to a motor pool at a military unit, poured a flammable mixture into the hatches of three light armored all-terrain vehicles, and set one of them on fire.

The following day, he arrived at the grounds of a military airfield in the region. There, he poured a flammable mixture on an aircraft’s landing gear and set it on fire, after which he fled the scene.

Damage to the Russian army from the arson attack

The Russia’s Ministry of Defence estimated the total damage caused by the contract soldier at 2.5 million rubles. The court sentenced him to four years in prison, with the remainder of the term to be served in a strict-regime penal colony.

During the hearing, it was established that the contract soldier had independently transferred money to the ‘scammers’’ accounts before receiving the assignments.