Russia offers Ukrainian teens "easy money" to lure them into sabotage campaign

Both perpetrators, who turned out to be relatives living in one of the local villages, have been apprehended, local police reported, according to Ukrinform.

Criminals set fire to cars in the towns of Kalush and Dolyna within a few days.

Russian intelligence is believed to have engaged both teenagers through an ad offering easy money for a “part-time job”, police learned. The younger sibling agreed to the offer before being given task options and payment estimates. The options included arson attacks targeting military vehicles, draft offices, and railway infrastructure.

The teenager then engaged his relative and both would cycle around populated areas, tracking SUVs with military insignia and photographing them for their handlers to approve targets.

For the first acts of arson involving a homemade mixture of gasoline and oil the perpetrators received UAH 40,000 (nearly $1,000) each.

Russian handlers offered the youngsters to continue the effort for a higher reward of $5,000 for two cars to be set ablaze.

Law enforcers nabbed the suspects as they were about to execute the said attacks.

The older teenager now faces up to eight years in prison while the actions of the underage suspect are yet to be properly qualified.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Ukraine’s security services detained in Dnipro a 16-year-old Russian asset who had been tasked with setting on fire a vehicle belonging the Ukrainian military.