
Wagner arson ringleader tried to forge ties with IRA
Dylan Earl, a 20-year-old labourer, admitted organising a firebomb attack on a Ukrainian-owned warehouse in east London and plotting to burn down a Mayfair restaurant belonging to a prominent Russian dissident.
Along with co-conspirator Jake Reeves, 23, he recruited a group of men to carry out the warehouse attack, which caused an estimated £1 million of damage, in March last year.
It is understood that Earl became fixated with the Wagner group, a Russian mercenary organisation, in his late teens while following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Having already begun dealing Class A drugs from his bedroom, Earl was attracted to Wagner's links with the criminal underworld and connections to prominent members of the Russian mafia.
He joined Wagner early last year, just a few months after it had been proscribed by the UK as a terrorist organisation. But instead of being content as a foot soldier, he wanted to go further and forge links with other terror organisations across Europe, including the IRA.
Earl was the first person to be charged under Section 18 of the National Security Act, brought in last year to target those working secretly for hostile states within the UK. He and Reeves admitted aggravated arson and an offence under the National Security Act.
Nii Kojo Mensah, 23, Jakeem Barrington Rose, 23, and Ugnius Asmena, 20, denied aggravated arson but were convicted on Tuesday after 21 hours and 55 minutes of jury deliberation.
Paul English, 61, denied, and was cleared of, aggravated arson.
Ashton Evans, 20, a Welsh drug dealer, denied but was convicted of one count of failure to disclose information to police about terrorist acts, but was cleared of a second count. Lithuanian-born Dmitrijus Paulauskas, 23, denied and was cleared of two counts of failing to disclose information.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said she would pass sentence in the autumn.
Reeves, whose stepfather is a police officer, worked as an aircraft cleaner at Gatwick Airport.
As well as trying to make contact with dissident Republicans, Earl discussed acting as a bridge between Kinahan, a Dublin-based crime cartel, and the Wagner group.
When police raided the rented house in Leicestershire he shared with his parents and sister, they discovered a black holdall containing a Russian flag, more than £20,000 in cash and almost one kilo of cocaine with a street value of almost £35,000.
Rather than being recruited, Earl volunteered his services to Wagner after contacting the group via a Telegram account in April last year.
Police were unable to see the contents of hundreds of encrypted messages sent to Earl, but it is believed some included instructions on targets to hit in London.
Ringleader 'urged to watch spy drama'
Messages on Telegram that were successfully recovered revealed chats between Earl and a Wagner agent known as Privet Bot.
The agent asked him: 'Hello friend, how are you? Do you have any friends among hooligans or acquaintances in the IRA?
'Can you find out about warehouses like this… do you have access to firearms? The task on this warehouse will be the first step.'
The Privet Bot account also asked if Earl could watch The Americans, a television drama set in Washington DC during the Cold War in the 1980s. In the programme, two Russian spies are embedded in US society so they can complete missions on behalf of the KGB.
The Privet Bot account said: 'Watch this series, it will be your manual.'
In March last year, a group of four men struck at a warehouse on the Cromwell Industrial Estate in Leyton, using an accelerant to start the fire.
More than 60 firefighters and eight fire engines battled the flames before the blaze was brought under control.
The two units targeted were occupied by Oddisey Ltd, which delivered and received goods packages ordered by customers in post-Soviet Union countries, and Meest UK Ltd, a Ukrainian-based shipping company.
The businesses were also involved in delivering Starlink satellite equipment to the region to aid Ukraine's war effort.
Upping the ante
Before the job was even complete, Earl's Wagner handlers had already planned his next job, significantly upping the ante.
They asked him to firebomb Hide Restaurant in Mayfair and the nearby Hedonism Wines shop, and also to kidnap Evgeny Chichvarkin, its Russian-born owner.
Mr Chichvarkin is a Russian dissident and outspoken critic of Putin, who fled the country in 2008 and sought refuge in London.
In a statement read to the jury during the Old Bailey trial, he explained why he believed he had been targeted by the Wagner group.
He said: 'I was significantly outspoken on my views of Russian aggression against Ukraine, beginning with the annexation of Crimea in 2014. I have publicly supported Ukraine throughout both conflicts.'
Mr Chichvarkin said he had been declared 'public enemy No 13 in Russia', adding: 'I have received daily death threats and terrible abuse ever since.'
Earl attempted to recruit people to carry out reconnaissance, but the plot never came to fruition.
Following his arrest on April 10, police examined his phone and found inquiries linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Wagner Group, arson and cryptocurrency.
His phone contained images of a pistol, magazine and bullets, while another screenshot showed a cryptocurrency account holding £58,425.80.
'Hostile agents'
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, said: 'This case is [a] clear example of an organisation linked to the Russian state using proxies – in this case British men – to carry out very serious criminal activity in this country on their behalf.
'The ringleaders, Earl and Reeves, willingly acted as hostile agents on behalf of the Russian state. I am pleased that, working closely with the Crown Prosecution Service, we were able to use the new National Security Act legislation, which meant the severity of Earl and Reeves's offending was reflected in the charges they faced.'
He added: 'The warehouse arson put members of the public at great risk, and it was only by good fortune nobody was seriously injured or worse.
'Those involved showed little or no regard for the potential impact of their actions on the UK's wider security. Seemingly motivated by the promise of money, they were prepared to commit criminal acts on behalf of Russia.'
Earl was said to have been motivated by the 'accumulation of wealth and status and the associated lifestyle it would bring'.
Prof Mark Galeotti, an expert in modern Russia, said an increasing number of young men were being drawn to Moscow.
He said: 'There is no real ideology in Putin's Russia, but there is a kind of perverse mystique. It is a very macho country. It stands up for traditional values, but at the same time it is ruthless and brutal, and this appeals to some.
'Wagner and Russia leverage this perverse appeal to the fullest. For disaffected lads and thugs, this ideal is very appealing.'
Prof Galeotti added: 'I have a suspicion this was a test run, an opportunity to test out a strategy. As long as Putin is in the Kremlin, they will continue to see the West as an enemy and a threat.
'This is the new normal. These proxies are the equivalent of drones in that they are disposable.'

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