Two Britons charged with aiding Russian intelligence

Two Britons have been officially charged with assisting Russian intelligence services in connection with the arson of a warehouse in London owned by a company of immigrants from Ukraine.

Dylan Earl from Leicestershire and Jake Reeves from Croydon (an area in south London) are 20 years old and 22 years old respectively. They came under investigation after a warehouse burned down in east London in March.

A total of five men were detained on suspicion of involvement in the fire. The other three have been charged under other charges not related to national security.

The main investigation is being conducted by members of the British police counter-terrorism department.

Earle is accused of overall directing and coordinating the attack on the business, as well as attempting to recruit people to assist a foreign intelligence service through fraud and arson.

Reeves is also accused of having ties to Russia – in particular, that he accepted cash payments for his services, knowing full well that he was receiving money from foreign intelligence.

Both young men are charged with developing a plan to attack a London-based company owned by immigrants from Ukraine, along with three other defendants in the case.

The remaining members of the group committed, according to the prosecution, the following crimes:

• 22-year-old Dmitrijus Paulauska, knowing about the preparation of the attack, did not report it to the police, violating the Terrorism Act adopted in Britain in 2000;
• 21-year-old Nii Mensah from south London started the arson himself, with the help of an accomplice (which is an aggravating circumstance);
• A similar charge of aggravated arson has also been brought against the alleged accomplice, 60-year-old Paul English, who lives in a suburb in southwest London.

Hearings in the case began at Westminster Magistrates’ Court last week, but for legal reasons the BBC could not report on it until Friday, April 26.

The investigation was opened after a fire broke out in March in the east of the capital, in an industrial estate on Staffa Road in the London Borough of Leyton. The investigation quickly established that the fire did not break out on its own: before the arson, the warehouse was generously poured with something like gasoline.

The fire was extinguished only by eight fire crews, that is, 60 people.

The prosecution does not specify who exactly owns the warehouse that was set on fire. However, in the register of British companies you can find information that it is registered with two parcel delivery services: Oddisey and Meest UK.

Both companies are owned by a married couple living in London: Mikhail Prikhodko (aka Mikhail Boykov) and his wife Elena Boykova.

Nick Price, who heads the Crown Prosecution Service’s counter-terrorism unit, said Dylan Earle was “allegedly engaged in activities targeting Ukrainian-linked businesses in order to assist the Russian state.”

“Among others [обвиняемые] participated in organizing the arson in March 2024 of a commercial property associated with Ukraine,” the prosecutor specified.

The next hearing is scheduled for May 10. This time, all five defendants must appear in court.

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