Military court sentences man to 22 years in prison for blowing up railway in Bryansk region

A military court has sentenced Sergey Belavin, accused of blowing up a railroad track in the Bryansk region, to 22 years in prison, TASS reports.

The court also fined Belavin 600,000 rubles (€6,000).

Belavin is both a Ukrainian and Russian national. He was accused of training for terrorist activities, committing a terror attack in a group, illegal acquisition and storage of explosives, and illegal manufacture of an explosive device.

Russia’s Investigative Committee claims Belavin was recruited by Ukraine’s intelligence in 2019 and “joined an organised group led by the agency” for money.

After the beginning of the Russian invasion, Ukraine’s intelligence developed a plan that used Belavin to carry out a terror attack in Russia, investigators claim.

They say that in June 2022, Belavin arrived in Russia “under the guise of labour activity”, retrieved a dead drop of explosives, made a remote-controlled explosive device and rigged it to a railway track near the village of Robchik, Bryansk Region.

The agency says Belavin blew up a freight train from Belarus, damaging the train cars and the railroad track. No railway personnel were injured. Belavin tried to escape but was later caught and detained.