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  "path": "/2026/04/29/ukrainians-ordered-set-fire-starmers-home-russian-telegram-account-el-money-28167649/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-29T13:50:32.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "News",
    "UK",
    "Crime News",
    "Russia",
    "Russia-Ukraine war",
    "Sir Keir Starmer",
    "Ukraine",
    "Keir Starmer",
    "London",
    "cryptocurrency",
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    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source"
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  "textContent": "A series of arson attacks on property linked to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer were orchestrated by a Russian-speaking contact called ‘El Money’, jurors heard (Picture: Wiktor Szymanowicz/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock)\n\n**Three men were hired to target Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in a series of arson attacks by a Russian-speaking contact called ‘El Money’, the Old Bailey has heard.**\n\nRoman Lavrynovych, 22, Petro Pochynok, 35, and Romanian Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, are accused of carrying out the series of firebombings in north London last spring.\n\nProsecutor Duncan Atkinson KC told jurors today that Lavrynovych was told what to do and where to target by the mysterious Telegram user who ‘promised payment’ in cryptocurrency.\n\nHe added that the motive for the attacks was ‘financial reward’ rather than any ‘particular political or ideological’ agenda.\n\nOpening the trial, Mr Atkinson said the three fires over five days, all linked to Sir Keir, went ‘beyond coincidence’.\n\n##  Sign up for all of the latest stories\n\nStart your day informed with Metro's **News Updates** newsletter or get **Breaking News** alerts the moment it happens.\n\nLast May 8, a Toyota Rav4 car which once belonged to the Prime Minister was allegedly set alight on Countess Road in Kentish Town.\n\nThree nights later, a blaze was reported at a house in nearby Ellington Street which was managed by a company of which the Prime Minister had once been a director and shareholder.\n\nIn the early hours of last May 12, another house on Countess Road was deliberately set alight.\n\nMr Atkinson said that property still belonged to the Prime Minister and was occupied by his sister-in-law.\n\nA view of the entrance to Sir Keir Starmer’s house in Kentish Town, north London, after a suspected arson attack (Picture: PA)\n\nScreengrab from a video of firefighters tackling a burning car in the same north London street where Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has a property (Picture: PA)\n\nLavrynovych allegedly set fire to the front door of each of the two houses ‘in the dead of night’ using white spirit or similar when the occupants were asleep.\n\nMr Atkinson said: ‘The prosecution’s case is that when he did so he must have intended to endanger – to risk – the lives of the people living inside those houses.\n\n‘Why else would you set fire to the front door, blocking the residents’ escape?’\n\nThe arson attacks were ‘planned and directed’ and involved the ‘promised payment’ in cryptocurrency by a contact called ‘El Money’, jurors heard.\n\nLavrynovych was told what to do and where to target by the anonymous Telegram user, the court was told.\n\nJurors were shown CCTV footage allegedly showing him buying white spirit at a B&Q in south-east London two days before the car was set on fire.\n\nLater that day, Lavrynovych messaged Carpiuc saying: ‘I’m waiting, bitch, listen, it’s an ordinary car’ and searched for an address on Countess Road where the vehicle was parked, the court heard.\n\nMr Atkinson said: ‘Lavrynovych had been offered payment to set the fires by a contact using the name or pseudonym “El Money”.\n\n‘“El Money” communicated in Russian, in contrast to the Ukrainian otherwise used by the defendants.’\n\nMr Atkinson said Lavrynovych may claim that he was ‘pressured’ into carrying out the attacks by a ‘shadowy figure who threatened him and his family if he did not comply’.\n\nPolice officers stand outside Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s private home after it was damaged by fire (Picture: Reuters)\n\nHowever, more than 300 messages between Lavrynovych and ‘El Money’ were recovered indicating a ‘good working relationship’ spanning seven months and a willingness to recruit others, he said.\n\nMr Atkinson added: ‘It also underlines that the motivation for these activities was not fear, but financial reward.’\n\nHowever, he told jurors they would not need to decide on a motivation or the true identity of El Money.\n\nMr Atkinson said: ‘It does not matter whether they knew that the property they were targeting was connected to the Prime Minister or whether that formed part of their motivation.’\n\nThe defendants are charged with conspiracy to damage property by fire between April 1 and May 13 last year.\n\nLavrynovych is also charged with damaging two properties by fire with intent to endanger life or being reckless as to whether life was endangered on May 11 and 12 last year.\n\nLavrynovych, of Lewisham, south-east London, Carpiuc, from Romford, east London, and Pochynok, of Islington, north London, have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.\n\nThe trial before Mr Justice Garnham is expected to continue until the end of May.\n\n******Get in touch with our news team by emailing us atwebnews@metro.co.uk.******\n\n**For more stories like this,** check our news page.\n\n\nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "Ukrainians ‘ordered to set fire to Starmer’s home’ by Russian Telegram account ‘El Money’"
}