A Krasnodar resident was sentenced to 12 years in prison for arson of relay cabinets.

Arsanali Mutukov pleaded guilty to setting fire to two equipment cabinets on the railway.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," in December 2025, the Krasnodar Regional Court found four residents of Kuban guilty of committing group acts of sabotage on the railway. They were sentenced to imprisonment for terms ranging from 13 to 15 years in a maximum-security penal colony.

The Krasnodar Regional Court sentenced Arsanali Mutukov to 12 years in prison for sabotage of transport infrastructure facilities. He will serve the first three years of his sentence in prison, and the remainder in a maximum-security penal colony. Mutukov fully admitted his guilt. The verdict has not yet entered into force, Interfax quotes the press service of the Krasnodar Regional courts as saying.

According to the prosecution, in 2024, the unemployed Mutukov received a job offer via instant messaging. Unknown Mutukov agreed to a proposal to set fire to metal equipment cabinets installed along the railway tracks.

The Krasnodar resident's first attempt at sabotage occurred on March 15, 2024: he doused a relay cabinet near a railway platform with lighter fluid, but was prevented from setting it on fire by passersby. The following day, Mutukov succeeded in burning the equipment. He filmed his actions, and 33,000 rubles were credited to his account that same day. The second arson occurred on June 27, 2024, when Mutukov burned a relay cabinet on the Krasnodar Station - EC-2 Marshalling Yard - Pashkovskaya Station section. For this, he received 35,000 rubles, according to the Kuban 24 publication.

It should be noted that Mutukov was found guilty under Part 1 (attempted sabotage) and paragraph "b" of Part 2 of Article 281 of the Criminal Code (sabotage).

"Caucasian Knot" reported that in the southern regions of Russia, after the start of the military operation in Ukraine, there have been repeated arson attacks on railway equipment. Investigators are classifying these incidents as sabotage and terrorist attacks. For example, in October 2025, Federal Security Service officers detained a Russian citizen, born in 1981, in connection with a case involving preparing to set fire to electrical equipment on a railway in Krasnodar Krai. According to the FSB, the suspect contacted a representative of an unnamed "pro-Ukrainian terrorist organization" and, on his instructions, prepared an incendiary mixture.

Earlier that month, the Rostov Regional Court sentenced local resident Roman Devitsyn to 14 years in prison for attempted sabotage on the railroad. Devitsyn had previously suffered a concussion in Chechnya and worked as a criminal investigation officer.