Police said the schoolboys may have been recruited through a messaging app and offered money to damage rail infrastructure.
Two 15-year-old schoolboys have been detained in Russia’s Kemerovo region on suspicion of setting fire to a railway relay cabinet on the Sudzhenka–Anzherskaya stretch, the regional transport police said.
According to police, one teenager was offered money through a messaging app to damage transport infrastructure. He allegedly agreed and involved a classmate. Authorities say the boys bought flammable liquid, went to the coordinates they had received and set the cabinet alight. They then sent a video to the recruiter and fled.
Investigators opened a criminal case under Part 2 of Article 281 of Russia’s Criminal Code, which covers sabotage by a group acting under prior agreement. The two have not been found guilty by a court.
The report also cites figures from neighbouring Novosibirsk region, where 21 teenagers were held liable in sabotage cases over two years. Investigator Alexandra Kil said minors were most often drawn into attacks on relay cabinets and mobile-phone towers.