A former sailor was sentenced to life in prison for setting fire to a missile carrier.

In Kaliningrad, the Baltic Naval Military Court sentenced 32-year-old former petty officer Alexander Terekhov in absentia in the case of setting fire to the cabin of the Serpukhov small rocket ship. This was announced on June 2 by the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation.

The man was found guilty under Articles 275 of the Criminal Code ("High treason"), paragraphs "b", "c" of Part 2 of Article 281 of the Criminal Code ("Sabotage"), part 3 of Article 338 of the Criminal Code ("Desertion"), Part 1 of Article 322 of the Criminal Code ("Illegal crossing of the state border").

The court found that in April 2024, while undergoing military service, on the instructions of unidentified persons from the leadership of the Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) of Ukraine, the defendant set fire to a ship moored in the military harbor of Baltiysk. The man agreed to commit sabotage, being in disagreement with the conduct of a special military operation (SVO) of the Russian Federation.

"As a result of Terekhov's criminal actions, the defense department suffered damage in the amount of over 56 million rubles, in addition, his colleague's health was harmed," the website of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation says.

After completing the task, the man illegally crossed the border of Russia and Lithuania, from where he defected to Ukraine. The court stripped him of his military rank, and also sentenced him to life imprisonment with serving the first 10 years in prison, then in a special—regime penal colony.

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On May 16, a resident of Tuapse was arrested for financing a unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) using cryptocurrency. According to the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Krasnodar Territory, the man contacted a pro-Ukrainian terrorist organization to provide support and carry out tasks in the region. On the instructions of the supervisor, he transferred money converted into cryptocurrency to a "bitcoin wallet" to conceal financial assistance to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The man faces up to 20 years in prison in the case of treason.