FSB arrests three high school students for sabotaging train tracks near Moscow
Source: Meduza
The FSB has arrested three eighth-grade students who allegedly sabotaged the railway by damaging the tracks near Moscow.
According to the detectives, the high school students from the suburban town of Chekhov followed instructions from an unknown Telegram contact, who allegedly offered to pay them for damaging the tracks. To get paid, the teenagers documented their work on video.
Russia’s new anti-sabotage legislation
- Putin signs law making 'sabotage' punishable by life in prison
- State Duma adopts criminal law against ‘sabotage,’ now punishable by life in prison
- State Duma passes new bill on ‘sabotage’ in first reading, aims to increase maximal penalty to life in prison
- Four students in Ufa charged with railway sabotage. Medvedev discusses the death penalty.
The authorities are now deciding whether to press charges. The students can potentially be charged with sabotage or terrorism. Under the recently amended criminal law, a person aged 14 or older may face up to a life sentence if charged with one of these felonies.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin signed the new anti-sabotage law on December 29, 2022.