In Russia, there is a boom in sabotage carried out by minors who are destroying railway infrastructure and military equipment. The teenagers received their tasks from "pro-Ukrainian players" on social networks, claim the Russian authorities, who are trying to counteract with propaganda videos, blocking messengers like Discord, where you can remain anonymous, or with legal changes, such as lowering the age threshold for responsibility for sabotage to 14.
Teenagers detained for setting fire to helicopters
A criminal case has been opened against two teenagers from Omsk for committing a terrorist act. They are accused of having at the local airbase, a "Molotov" cocktail was thrown at a Mi-8 helicopter, which was completely burned down. It is alleged that an unknown person promised them on the social network Telegram to pay them $20,000. The two young men are being held in a pre-trial detention center.
Also in September, a helicopter of the same type, but a civil aircraft, burned down at the Noyabrsk airport in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Two teenagers were detained at the helipad, suffering burns to their faces and hands while trying to set the aircraft on fire. They admitted that they had been assigned the task by a person they contacted on Telegram after scanning a QR code on a leaflet calling for the destruction of military equipment in exchange for money. They had found it in the toilet of their school. Such leaflets are reported by the media in several Russian regions - Volgograd, Voronezh, Ryazan.
Bots on Telegram offer money and guarantee security
DV contacted an unknown interlocutor on Telegram, presenting himself as a student from St. Petersburg. From the automatic greeting at the beginning of the conversation, it is clear that we have contacted a "bot for students who need money". From him we learn the following: "For the destruction of a transformer, $3,000 is given, for a power line - $4,000, for a helicopter - $5,000 and for an airplane - $10,000."
After the equipment is destroyed, which must be proven with a video recording, the stranger promises to send $150,000 from a cryptocurrency wallet to any bank account. The main condition is that the task be completed on the day of the correspondence. If by chance it comes to detention, there will be no punishment.
In the chat, we received detailed instructions on how to destroy certain objects with a gas cylinder, as well as what to say in the store when purchasing the necessary equipment. We were also told that in 90% of cases the saboteurs succeeded, and 10% of them failed. "And even if they send you to some children's colony, when you leave it, according to the law your file becomes clean", the interlocutor assures.
In the end, the journalist from DW, who conducted the communication, revealed his true identity, and the stranger explained that he worked for "some organization", whose representatives were in different countries. The goal was to destroy as much military equipment as possible that could be used against civilians in Ukraine. When we asked why they were using children, they were told that they would bear minimal responsibility.
What role do anonymous chats play
"Unknown people manipulate minors and underage people, making them do things they themselves would not risk. This can completely ruin their lives,", Internet security expert and head of the Internet Protection Society Mikhail Klimarev told DW. He assures that it is practically impossible to identify the administrator of such a Telegram channel.
A technical specialist from the human rights project Network Freedoms, who wished to remain anonymous, has a different opinion. According to him, it is possible to reach the authors and their location, but not without the help of Telegram administrators. "Otherwise, it is impossible to understand who is behind these bots: is it abroad, is it provocateurs in Russia," the expert says.
Provocateurs from the Russian security services?
The Russian Volunteer Corps, whose members position themselves as Russian nationalists taking the side of Ukraine, has published several videos on its Telegram channel with successful sabotage of the railway infrastructure. Speaking to DW, a source close to the corps, who requested anonymity, did not deny that using minors for sabotage is problematic, since success depends on the experience of the perpetrator. At the same time, he assures that such anonymous channels on Telegram are often organized by the Russian security services in order to fabricate criminal cases against "romantics", revealed while they are preparing the sabotage.
According to the human rights project Avtozak LIVE, over 550 people in Russia have been held accountable for sabotage and arson of military facilities. It is unclear how many of them are minors, as separate statistics for them are not kept. The OVD-Info project has calculated that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Federation has issued at least 28 convictions for sabotage. In most cases, this involves setting fire to relay boards, trains and other transport or infrastructure. The penalty under this article is 10 to 12 years of imprisonment, but provided that the convicted person has already reached the age of 16.
A bill has been submitted to the State Duma to lower the age limit from which a person can be held criminally liable. Its goal: to make it 14 years old.
Author: Alexey Strelnikov