Ukrainian man sentenced to prison for plotting arson attack instigated by Russia

(Berlin = Yonhap News) Correspondent Kim Gye-yeon = A Ukrainian national who was accused of planning an arson attack in his home country at the instigation of Russia was sentenced to prison.

On the 18th (local time), the Stuttgart High Court in Germany sentenced a 30-year-old Ukrainian citizen to one year and three months in prison on charges of sabotage and espionage.

Two Ukrainian accomplices who were also indicted were found not guilty.

They are accused of being recruited by Russian intelligence agencies and planning to send a courier containing an incendiary device to Ukraine and set it on fire.

They shipped car parts and a GPS tracker from Cologne, Germany to Ukraine in March last year. The prosecution viewed it as reconnaissance to check the delivery route and procedures of Ukrainian courier company Novapost.

The defendants were arrested after their plan was discovered before sending a terrorist package to Ukraine. Prosecutors determined that they were in contact with Russian intelligence through a broker in Mariupol, Ukraine.

This incident attracted attention as a Russian sabotage targeting European and Ukrainian logistics networks. European investigative authorities believe that the Russian General Reconnaissance Office (GRU) also orchestrated the courier fires that occurred in Leipzig, Germany, Warsaw, Poland, and Birmingham, England in 2024.

German prosecutors are also investigating the incident in which a drone loaded with explosives was discovered at Leipzig-Halle Airport on the 4th of this month, suspecting that Russia is behind it. Investigative authorities reportedly confirmed that the DNA left on the drone in question matched DNA information collected during the Leipzig parcel fire incident two years ago.