The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported mass calls with a proposal to set fire to the military registration and enlistment office

From the territory of Ukraine, mass calls began to arrive with a proposal to set fire to military registration and enlistment offices. About it reported in the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

“Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia note a sharp increase in the number of reports coming from the regions of our country about the use of new tactics by telephone scammers from Ukraine. They not only steal the money of deceived Russians, but also try to involve them in committing sabotage and terrorist acts,” the statement said.

According to the department, the attackers first steal money, and then offer the victims “to take revenge on the swindlers or to assist in their detention.” “But whatever the pretext, everything ends the same way: a demand to set fire to military, transport or banking infrastructure facilities,” the Interior Ministry explained. Elderly people are the most common victims of scammers.

Similar warning released and the Attorney General. The department recalled that law enforcement officers do not involve people in assistance through a telephone conversation and do not ask them to commit an illegal act. The department also recalled that the arson of the military enlistment office could be regarded as a terrorist attack (Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) or sabotage (Article 281 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The maximum punishment under these articles provides for imprisonment for up to 20 years.

The Prosecutor General’s Office also linked a series of arson attacks on military registration and enlistment offices with the success of the Russian Armed Forces in the special operation zone. “The calls were massive and coincided in time with the dates of the successful advance of the RF Armed Forces in the zone of the special military operation,” the statement said.

The Prosecutor General’s Office explained that Russian citizens received instructions from people who presented themselves as employees of financial organizations or law enforcement agencies. They offered victims to help apprehend criminals or pay off debt on credit obligations by setting fire to military or banking infrastructure.

Cases of arson at military registration and enlistment offices have become more frequent in the past few days. In particular, on August 7 reportedthat the FSB stopped an attempt by a resident of the city of Bor in the Nizhny Novgorod region to set fire to the building of the military registration and enlistment office using an incendiary mixture. The man himself refused to commit arson and turned to the Federal Security Service for the region.

On August 7, Vedomosti wrote that the head of the party and the Duma faction “A Just Russia – For Truth” (SRZP), Sergei Mironov, sent a letter to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, in which he claims that 25 arson attempts were committed in Russia on August 1-2 military commissariats. In a comment to Vedomosti, Mironov noted that among the arsonists there were schoolchildren, elderly Russians, and people who fell into “credit bondage”.

At the end of January, the first sentence was passed in Russia for setting fire to a military registration and enlistment office under an article on terrorism. In 2022, on the night of May 4, two men tried to set fire to the military enlistment office in Nizhnevartovsk. According to the case file, there was a watchman in the building at that time. There were no casualties as a result of the fire. One of the defendants in the case, Vladislav Borisenko, was found guilty in the case of a terrorist attack (part 2 of article 205 of the Criminal Code), he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and a fine of 6,000 rubles.