Three Donetsk residents were sentenced to lengthy prison terms for setting fire to relay cabinets.

A military court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Vladislav Matukhnenko, Anton Esauenko, and Evgeniya Kudryashova to lengthy prison terms in the railroad arson case.

"Caucasian Knot" wrote that in the southern regions of Russia, after the outbreak of large-scale military operations in Ukraine, there have been repeated arson attacks on military registration and enlistment offices and railroad relay cabinets. A wave of such arson attacks, in particular, was recorded after the announcement of partial mobilization in Russia. On September 30, 2022, General Staff spokesman Vladimir Tsimlyansky stated that the arson attacks on military registration and enlistment offices will be classified as terrorist attacks; investigators also sometimes apply the sabotage article to such cases.

On April 27, the Southern District Military Court announced the verdict against three Rostov Region natives accused of terrorist crimes. Vladislav Matukhnenko was charged with terrorist attack, preparation of a terrorist attack, and recruitment (clause "a" of Part 2 of Article 205 and Part 1.1 of Article 205.1 of the Russian Criminal Code), Anton Esauenko was charged only with attempted terrorist attack, and Evgeniya Kudryashova with complicity in a terrorist attack.

According to the prosecution, on August 22-23, 2023, Matukhnenko agreed to set fire to relay cabinets in the Rostov Region for a monetary reward. The offer was received by him through correspondence from an "unidentified person."

On August 23-24, 2023, the interlocutor sent Matukhnenko information about the location of a specific relay cabinet, a photograph of it, and instructions. On August 24, he transferred money to Matukhnenko.

Investigators determined that Matukhnenko recruited Evgeniya Kudryashova to carry out a "task," asking her to drive him to the arson site. He promised his acquaintance money, and she agreed. On September 1, they went together to a gas station in Rostov-on-Don and purchased fuel, which Matukhnenko poured into a five-liter polymer container. That night, in the same car, they arrived at the site where Matukhnenko set fire to the relay cabinet, according to the press service of the Southern District Military Court.

According to the prosecution, from August 23 to September 6, 2023, an unknown "client" sent Matukhnenko the coordinates of other relay cabinets located in the Proletarsky District of Rostov-on-Don. To carry out this task, Matukhnenko hired his acquaintance, Anton Yesaulenko, offering to buy fuel, set the fire, and photograph the burning cabinets.

On September 7, Anton Yesaulenko bought ten liters of motor fuel at a Rostov gas station, and on September 8, he arrived at the relay cabinets to set them on fire. Law enforcement officers were already waiting for him there.

The court sentenced Vladislav Matukhnenko to 20 years in a maximum-security penal colony, with the first five years to be served in prison. Yesaulenko was sentenced to 13 years in a maximum-security penal colony, with the first four years to be served in prison, while Kudryashova received 10 years and six months in a general-regime penal colony.

The court's press service did not specify whether the defendants had pleaded guilty. Caucasian Knot has not yet received comments from the defendants or their lawyer regarding their plans to appeal the verdict.

The Southern District Military Court has been hearing the case of Matukhnenko, Yesaulenko, and Kudryashova since June 2025. All three defendants were added to the Rosfinmonitoring register of terrorists and extremists in January 2024, according to a bot tracking the list.

According to the list, Anton Yesaulenko is 35 years old and a native of the village of Elizavetovka in the Azovsky District of the Rostov Region. Vladislav Matukhnenko, 30, was born in Belaya Kalitva. Rostov-on-Don native Evgenia Kudryashova turned 29 in early April.