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Russia linked to arson attacks on properties connected to UK PM Keir Starmer, police say
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Officials on Monday revealed new details about a series of arson attacks targeting properties connected to U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, alleging the suspects were recruited and directed by a Russian-speaking handler.
According to police and court reporting, the suspects were promised payment to carry out a coordinated campaign in London in May 2025, including attacks involving a vehicle and two properties linked to Starmer.
A new investigation reported that the handler is believed to be a diplomat trained in information warfare and part of a broader Russian sabotage and disinformation operation directed from Moscow, according to the Kyiv Post.
Ukrainian national Roman Lavrynovych, 22, and Romanian national Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, were convicted in connection with the arson plot after Lavrynovych was recruited by a Russian-speaking Telegram handler known as “El Money,” according to police and court reporting. Kyiv Post reported that Carpiuc was also born in Ukraine. A third defendant, Petro Pochynok, 35, was acquitted.
BRITISH POLICE INVESTIGATE FIRE AT PRIME MINISTER KEIR STARMER’S LONDON HOME
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a meeting on Feb. 24, 2026. (Kin Cheung / POOL / AFP via Getty Images))
According to police, Lavrynovych was recruited through Telegram by a Russian-speaking handler saved in his phone contacts as “El Money,” who allegedly directed him through a series of increasingly serious tasks while promising payment in return.
“Look, you attacked the home of a very high-ranking person in Britain. I’ll send you the money you need to leave the city,” the handler allegedly wrote in one message cited by investigators, according to Kyiv Post.
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Officials arrest a Ukrainian man who was later found guilty of setting on fire houses linked to U.K. Prime Minister Starmer. (Metropolitan Police)
The handler reportedly offered Lavrynovych Russian citizenship in exchange for carrying out the attacks and frequently voiced support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the outlet. Evidence also suggested that “El Money” was trained in information warfare by propagandists and intelligence operatives, the outlet said.
Investigators added that Russian operatives allegedly coordinated the campaign remotely through social media platforms and Telegram, using fake far-right and Muslim online communities to sow division and fear in the U.K., Kyiv Post said.
The Russian Embassy has reportedly denied any involvement, rejecting “any attempt to associate Russia or its foreign ministry with unlawful activities,” according to the report.
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Police officers stand outside Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s private home, after it was damaged by fire in a suspected arson attack in north London, Britain, May 13, 2025. (REUTERS/Toby Melville)
According to officials, the three arson attacks occurred over a five-day period in May 2025.
The first attack took place on May 8, when a Toyota vehicle formerly owned by Starmer was set ablaze.
A second fire was set on May 11 at the entrance of a residential property that was managed by a company in which Starmer had previously served as a director and shareholder.
The third attack occurred on May 12 at a house that is owned by the prime minister.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a video conference meeting outside Moscow on April 7, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
“The actions of the two men involved in these arson attacks were incredibly reckless, and it was sheer luck that nobody was killed or injured,” Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said in a statement.
Police said Lavrynovych was arrested on May 13 last year after detectives linked the suspect to the attacks through CCTV footage and phone records indicating he had conducted reconnaissance ahead of the fires.
Authorities said Carpiuc was arrested on May 17 in the departure lounge at Luton Airport moments before boarding a flight to Romania.
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One of the leading American institutes devoted to research on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program sounded an alarm this week over the regime’s uninspected underground site in the Zagros Mountains.
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have not been allowed to visit the secret site, known as Pickaxe Mountain.
The highly fortified facility is casting serious doubt on Iran’s willingness to abide by the terms of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) reached with the Trump administration. The United States, together with Israel, launched Operation Epic Fury Feb. 28, 2026, targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities.
Experts from the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) argue that halting work at Pickaxe Mountain and allowing IAEA inspectors access would be a key good-faith measure to test whether Iran is prepared to abandon its pattern of deception.
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A satellite image shows an overview of the Pickaxe Mountain tunnel complex in Natanz. (Vantor/Handout via Reuters)
Spencer Faragasso, a senior fellow with the group who covers Iran, North Korea, illicit trade, and nuclear issues, wrote on X: “Important update by us at @TheGoodISIS. The ongoing work at Pickaxe Mountain is deeply concerning. This work has continued steadily since at least 2020. In my view, this is a hedge by Iran in case negotiations fail — they will then have a nuclear facility in a late stage of construction. We assessed that Pickaxe is likely large enough to hold an enrichment plant.”
Iran has used facilities at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan to enrich uranium, the key material for a nuclear weapons program.
Faragasso added, “If Iran is serious about negotiating, it should halt construction at Pickaxe Mountain as a token of good faith. But what can be expected from a regime as brutal and conniving as Iran’s?”
The institute posted a detailed analysis of new satellite imagery from late June 2026 showing continued activity at Pickaxe Mountain.
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Vice President JD Vance prior to a meeting between the United States, Iran, Pakistan and Qatar at the Bürgenstock luxury hotel complex overlooking Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, June 21, 2026. (Fabrice Coffrini/Keystone via AP)
The institute wrote that “at Pickaxe Mountain, vehicle activity can be seen on the roads leading to the open set of Western tunnel portals, indicating that construction inside the tunnel complex, as well as hardening of the tunnel entrance, are ongoing. The MOU signed between the United States and Iran requires that Iran maintain the status quo, which should prohibit construction at any nuclear-related facility, including Pickaxe Mountain.”
In late June, the IAEA declined to answer a detailed Fox News Digital query on whether it would seek access to the Pickaxe Mountain facility. According to the satellite imagery obtained by the institute, “at Natanz, little activity can be seen. The access points to the below-ground enrichment halls have not been repaired.
“The personnel entrances remain destroyed, and vehicle entrances remain severely damaged. A single vehicle can be seen on the road outside of the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP), which was destroyed in June 2025 but was later covered by Iran.”
As U.S.-Iran talks opened Sunday in Switzerland, and a dispute over who controls and monitors billions of dollars in potentially unfrozen Iranian assets emerged. (Fabrice Coffrini/Pool via Reuters)
The institute also reported, “As of June 29, 2026, there is no observed activity at Esfahan. The tunnel portals remain backfilled with dirt.” ISIS tracked developments at the Fordow site, buried inside a mountain north of the holy Islamic city of Qom.
“At Fordow, as earlier reported by the Institute, between May 10 and May 18, Iran added passive defensive measures in the form of earthen/rocky mounds and other objects on the roads leading to the tunnel entrances. The alternating placements of the piles/objects are very precise, which creates a series of chicanes, indicating they are not intended as obstructions but rather to prevent rapid ingress and egress by any vehicle toward the tunnels.”
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The institute added, “The June 21 Vantor image shows that the objects along the road remain there. The tunnel portals also remain backfilled with dirt” at Fordow.
Fox News Digital sent questions to the State Department and the Iranian Mission to the United Nations.
Published On 6 Jul 2026
The funeral procession for late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has begun in Tehran as authorities prepare for crowds that could rival those that turned out for his predecessor nearly four decades ago.
After lying in state for two days at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla religious complex, the body of Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the United States-Israel war on Iran, began its journey on Monday through the capital, accompanied by large crowds of mourners, state broadcaster IRIB reported.
Authorities are hoping to avoid a repeat of the chaos that marred the 1989 funeral of Khamenei’s predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini, which drew an estimated 10 million people, according to the state news agency IRNA.
Crowd surges during Khomeini’s funeral killed more than 10 people and injured over 10,000.
Thousands filled the Grand Mosalla on Sunday to pay their respects to Khamenei and his four family members who were killed with him on February 28 in air strikes on his office in Tehran.
Monday’s procession will be followed by similar events in the clerical hub of Qom on Tuesday and in Iraq’s holy cities of Najaf and Karbala on Wednesday, culminating in Khamenei’s burial in his hometown of Mashhad in northeastern Iran on Thursday.
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