A man drove his car into a military recruitment office in the town of Gus Khrustalny in central Russia’s Vladimir region on Wednesday and then set it alight, the town’s mayor Alexey Sokolov has reported.
Sokolov did not name the man, who is now in police custody, saying he was “another victim of Ukrainian scammers”. He also urged local residents to “be sensible” and be wary of any calls and messages encouraging them to commit illegal acts.
At least 50 attempted arson attacks, targeting mainly ATMs, shopping centres, police cars and administrative buildings, were recorded in Russia over a 12-day period in December, independent news outlet Mediazona estimated on Tuesday.
One of the perpetrators, 21-year-old Dmitry Baranov, who threw several Molotov cocktails at a military recruitment office in the city of Yekaterinburg in the Urals on 13 December, said he had transferred 3 million rubles (€28,800) to unknown people who then forced him to carry out the attack to get his money back.
At least six of the perpetrators, including Baranov, have been charged with terrorism, Mediazona reported, while 11 others have been charged with wilful damage to property.
State-affiliated newspaper Kommersant reported on Tuesday that the Russian authorities were considering either blocking all calls from foreign users on popular messengers, or banning all voice calls altogether due to a sharp rise in scam calls, about 70% of which were received from abroad.
