Russia blames Ukraine for military call-up centre fires

Russia has blamed Ukraine for a spate of arson attacks on military recruitment centres, alleging that callers in Ukraine are tricking elderly Russians into committing such crimes.

The claim is not backed by evidence.

The prosecutor-general's office says Ukrainian agents posed as police or creditors in the calls and incited Russians to attack the centres in return for promises to settle debts.

Some Russians were allegedly promised the recovery of their stolen savings.

In that alleged scam, the victims were told that criminals had accessed their savings but they would get their money back if they attacked a recruitment centre.

Sometimes the victims were also assured that such an attack would help apprehend the criminals.

Prosecutors said the phone calls were made on a mass scale and coincided with Russian advances on the Ukrainian front.

In its statement on the alleged scams, Russia's interior ministry stressed that attacks on military recruitment centres are punishable by up to 20 years in jail.

If true, Russia's allegations, ironically, read as a massive compliment to the prowess of Ukrainian intelligence agents, BBC Europe specialist Alexander Schlichter says.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 there have been many such arson attacks.

But they have increased in recent weeks, coinciding with a new mass recruitment drive involving a huge official advertising campaign.

Russia's Vedomosti news daily quotes a hardline nationalist MP, Sergei Mironov, as saying 25 attacks on the centres were attempted just on 1 and 2 August.

Mr Mironov has written to defence minister Sergei Shoigu arguing that the Ukrainian call centres identified in the scams are now legitimate targets for the Russian military.

Before the change, all healthy men in Russia aged between 18 and 27 had to serve one year of compulsory military service. Now the upper age limit is 30.

Between 1 January and 3 August 231,000 extra soldiers were recruited into the army, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said, citing defence ministry figures.

Last September President Vladimir Putin launched a "partial" mass mobilisation - a move that alarmed many Russians, pushing thousands of eligible men to leave the country.