Two Chita residents were sentenced for setting fire to a mobile communication station.

The Zabaikalsky Regional Court sentenced two residents of Chita, assigning them six years in prison for sabotage and destruction of a life support facility ordered by Ukraine. This was announced on March 20 by the press service of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Trans-Baikal Territory.

According to the agency, in September 2024, one of the suspects began correspondence in the Telegram messenger with a stranger who suggested that he commit sabotage in the interests of Ukraine: to cause an explosion or set fire to the base station of one of the mobile operators.

"Having received the appropriate instructions, the resident of Chita decided that he alone would not be able to cope with the task and attracted his friend," the agency said in a statement.

The intruders entered the facility, broke down a metal cabinet with technical equipment, poured flammable liquid over it and set it on fire.

The court sentenced the defendants to 6 years in prison. They will serve their sentences in an educational colony.

On February 20, law enforcement officers detained a Sochi resident who was preparing a sabotage operation on behalf of an armed group of Ukraine recognized as a terrorist on the territory of the Russian Federation. On the instructions of the supervisor, the man made three incendiary devices, which he planned to use to set fire to electrical equipment at the railway facility. The person involved was detained, and a criminal case was opened against him under Part 1 of Article 30, Part 1 of Article 281 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Preparation for sabotage").