News
Russia’s 2nd Eastern District Military Court has sentenced two underage residents of Omsk to seven and 7.5 years respectively for their role in setting fire to a Mi-8 helicopter at a military airfield in the Siberian city, according to a report by the Interfax news agency, citing the Federal Security Service (FSB). The teenagers were convicted of committing a terrorist act. Until they turn 18, they will be held in a juvenile correctional facility, and afterward in a general-regime penal colony.
The court also ordered the teenagers to compensate the Russian Defense Ministry for the damage done to the destroyed helicopter, a figure the court determined to be 668 million rubles (over $8.7 million).
“In September 2024, two teenagers…entered the territory of a military airfield…at night and set fire to a Mi-8 helicopter using a homemade incendiary mixture. The teenagers filmed the arson of the helicopter on a mobile phone camera and sent the resulting video recording as a report on the work done to their handler. The money promised for the arson was not paid to them,” the FSB said in a statement.
The suspects were detained less than 24 hours after the incident and reportedly confessed during questioning that they had acted on the instructions of an unknown “handler” who promised them $20,000 for setting fire to the aircraft.
The FSB statement did not name the convicted teenagers or mention their ages. In September 2024, media reports said both were 16.