St. Petersburg nurse sentenced to eight years in prison for attempting to set fire to military enlistment office

Russia’s Western Military District court sentenced Maxim Asriyan, a nurse who worked in St. Petersburg, to eight years in prison for attempting to set fire to a military enlistment office, reports the St. Petersburg courts’ press service.

Asriyan was found guilty of attempting to commit a terrorist attack and committing treason. He will spend the first 2.5 years in prison and the remaining sentence in a maximum security penal colony.

The state prosecutor requested a 14-year prison sentence for Asriyan.

The 26-year-old worked as a healthcare worker in a clinic. He was first arrested in October 2022 when he was stopped at Pulkovo Airport on his way from St. Petersburg to Sochi. According to independent outlet Mediazona, the investigation says that he had arrived at the military enlistment office “with equipment to light a fire” a few days prior, but reconsidered his actions and left.

Asriyan admitted that he bought flammable liquid and came to the military enlistment office, but reconsidered setting the building on fire because he didn’t want to hurt anyone.

The investigation says that Asriyan “was in contact with foreign special services,” and that they found “instructions and an outline for a terrorist attack” on his phone. Asriyan denied having any contact with foreign special services.