Russia denies participating in arson on properties linked to British Prime Minister Steamer
LONDON (AP) – Senior Kremlin officials scoffed at a report on Monday saying Russia may have been involved in the recent arson attack on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's private residence, a building he once lived in and a car he owned.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to a Financial Times report that said British security officials were studying whether Russia was involved in the attack.
The Associated Press cannot independently confirm the FT report of British government figures who wanted to be named. But when Peskov's London-based paper asked about the report on the report at his regular press conference on Friday, he did not respond to the request.
“London tends to suspect any bad situations in Russia in the UK,” Peskov said. “Generally all of this suspicion is groundless, unexperimental, and often ridiculous.”
Authorities said no one was injured in the fire that occurred three nights in north London between May 8 and May 12.
Three people with Ukraine faced arson charges and were released without bail at a hearing held at the Central Criminal Court in London on June 6.
There is no explanation for the crime, and no official publicly stated that Moscow was behind the fire, one prosecutor said.
But the Assen family fits into a pattern of destruction, with Western officials accusing Russia and its agents of dozens of times, destroying support for Ukraine since Moscow’s full-scale invasion three years ago and Europe sowing Europe.
The Associated Press recorded nearly 60 incidents in March, in which European governments, prosecutors, intelligence agencies or other Western officials accused Russia, groups related to Russia and its allies Belarus of cyberattacks, propaganda, murder or committing acts of vandalism, propaganda since 20222, sabotage Orson of Espionage.
Richard Moore, head of the UK's foreign intelligence service, accused Russia of “amazingly reckless” sabotage campaign against Ukraine's western allies last year.
Two weeks ago, six Bulgarians were sentenced to long-term jail in London courts for delicate espionage operations.
Starmer's office did not comment on the FT report or Peskov's comments on Monday. It referred the Associated Press to the Metropolitan Police, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond immediately.
They said anti-terrorism detectives investigated the fires related to Starmer because the incident involved the prime minister. The charges are authorized by the Crown Prosecutor's Counter-Terrorism Division, which prosecutes crimes related to state threats, as well as other offences.
Roman Lavrynovych, 21, was charged with three counts of arson with the intention of endangering life. His compatriots, Petro Pochynok, 34, and Stanislav Carpiuc, 26, of the Romanian state of Ukraine, have been charged with conspiracy to commit arson in a life-threatening case.
Starmer and his family moved out after being elected in July, living in the Prime Minister's formal Downing Street residence.
On May 8, Starmer sold Toyota Rav4 to his neighbor and shot in the street in the house he lived before taking office. The door of an apartment building he once lived in was burnt down and on May 11, the door of his house was burned down and burned down after it was burned down.
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Joanna Kozlowska contributed to the report.
