Russian Teen Sentenced to 6 Years for Enlistment Office Arson Attempt

A St. Petersburg military court has sentenced teenager Yegor Balazeikin to six years for attempting to set fire to army registration offices, the independent Novaya Gazeta Europe news website reported Wednesday.

Balazeikin, 17, had become an opponent of the war in Ukraine after his uncle was killed in battle. According to investigators, he attempted to set fire to two military registration offices using Molotov cocktails in February 2023, but the devices failed to ignite. 

The student was initially charged with hooliganism, but the criminal case was later reclassified as an attempted terrorist attack.

Because he is a minor, he will serve his sentence in a correctional colony until he turns 19, when he will be transferred to a prison colony.

“The date February 24 has become more significant for me than my birthday. I foresee a sentence awaiting me and understand why I will be in prison: I am to blame for my indifference. At the beginning [of the war] I didn’t care, but this is the same as supporting it,” Balazeikin said during his final word in court.

Balazeikin has been in held pre-trial detention since March. A medical examination revealed that he had progressive liver fibrosis and his defense claimed he hadn't received the needed treatment in time.

His mother Tatyana has said his continued imprisonment would be “tantamount to a death sentence.”

Since the start of the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine last year, many military recruitment offices across Russia have been targeted in arson attacks.

In August, Moscow accused Ukraine of inciting Russians to set fire to military recruitment offices, claiming that Russians were allegedly “following the so-called 'instructions' received by phone from Ukraine."