Man from Murmansk gets 14 years in jail for attempted arson of military draft office

Ilya Sadkov was detained by police in March 2023 and during interrogations reportedly confessed his involvement in the arson of the local military recruitment centre.

Sadkov said that he acted alone and that the attack was motivated by a desire to undermine the Russian Armed Forces, the Russian version of the Barents Observer reports.

The arson took place on the 23rd of February 2023. The draft office did not catch fire, and only a window was damaged.

Sadkov will serve three years in jail and subsequently be transferred to a high-security prison colony.

He will serve parts of the sentence together with his friend Aleksandr Levadsky, who in the same court case was sentenced to 17 years for ‘treason.’

According to the prosecutors, the 32-year old man was the one that talked Ilya Sadkov into the attack on the public office. Levadsky and Sadkov have been friends since childhood.

Levadsky had reportedly shared his opposition against the war with friends and the Police started to wiretap his phone. Among his telephone conversations was a talk with a friend from Ukraine.

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Both cases will be appealed, newspaper MediaZona reports.

According to Murmansk-based news site Arktichesky Obozrevatel, also two policemen have been charged following the 2023 arson. The law enforcement officials were contrary to orders not on guard at the draft office on the day of the arson. They face up to five years of jail.