Moscow, Russia - Two students who tried to commit arson at a railway station in southwestern Russia have been sentenced to a combined 14 years' prison for "attempted sabotage", a court said Thursday.
Russia has reported almost 200 acts of sabotage on its rail network since it sent troops into Ukraine two years ago, blaming most of them on Kyiv and its supporters.
Ruslan Gashumov, aged 19 at the time, was contacted by an "unidentified person" online who offered him 30,000 rubles ($300) to carry out the arson, Saratov Regional Court said.
The suspect was tasked with burning relay cabinets that regulate train traffic, and enlisted the help of a 17-year-old accomplice, it alleged.
The accomplice tried to open the cabinet but failed, and fled the scene after spotting the "headlights of a car carrying Russian Railways employees", it added.
The court found both guilty of "attempted sabotage", sentencing Gashumov to nine years and six months in a strict penal colony and the unnamed accomplice to four and a half years.
Kyiv does not typically claim responsibility for sabotage but often cheers on attacks targeting Russia's railway network, which it says Moscow uses to move troops and fuel for its offensive.