Government officials are investigating possible Russian links to the arson attacks at properties linked to Sir Keir Starmer, it has been claimed.
Two properties and a car were all set alight earlier this month, with police charging three men over the attacks.
Petro Pochynok, 34, is accused of conspiring to damage by fire the PM’s former Toyota Rav4, a property where he once lived and his family’s former house with intent to endanger life.
Models Roman Lavrynovych, 21, and Stanislav Carpiuc, 26, are also charged with plotting arsons between April 17 and May 13. While Pochynok and Lavrynovych are Ukrainian citizens, Carpiuc is Romanian.
And now officials are probing whether the men, who were all born in Ukraine, were recruited by the Kremlin, a Whitehall source told the Financial Times.
But they added it is one of many lines of investigation, with police keeping an ‘open mind’.
The charges relate to a vehicle fire in Kentish Town on May 8, a fire at a house in Islington on May 11 and a fire at a property in Kentish Town in the early hours of May 12.
Counter-terrorism police and prosecutors have stressed that the exact motive remains under investigation.
Two properties and a car were all set alight earlier this month, with police charging three men over the attacks.
Police have already said that the three suspects charged over arson attacks linked to the prime minister are ‘part of a conspiracy’ involving other ‘unknown’ individuals
Lavrynovych, of Sydenham, south-east London has been charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life, while his co-accused are charged with conspiracy with ‘others unknown’.
Two of the fires occurred in Kentish Town, north London – one in the early hours of May 12 at the home where Sir Keir lived before he became Prime Minister and moved into Downing Street, while the second occurred when a car was set alight in the same street on May 8.
The other, third fire, took place on May 11 at the front door of a house converted into flats in Islington.
All three accused men, who deny the charges against them, were remanded in custody by Judge Daniel Sternberg to appear at the Old Bailey on June 6.
Pochynok was arrested on Monday morning in Chelsea, west London, by Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism officers.
Six officers were spotted carrying bags of evidence out of the front door of his Holloway property, with a police warrant, seen by The Times, allegedly confirming that they searched the inside of the flat.
Meanwhile, Carpiuc, from Romford, east London, was arrested on Saturday at Luton Airport by counter-terrorism officers from the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit as he prepared to catch a Wizz Air flight to Romania.
He appeared to have previously lived at the Holloway address with Pochynok.
Stanislav Carpiuc, 26, has been charged with conspiring with ‘others unknown’ over the arsons
Lavrynovych, of Sydenham, south-east London has been charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life
Pochynok, 34, has been charged with conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life
Officials are investigating the possibility of Russian links to the arson attacks at properties belonging to Sir Keir Starmer earlier this month
The hybrid vehicle was left completely wrecked by the blaze after Starmer sold it to a neighbour
Sir Keir’s £2million private home in the Kentish Town area of north London, which he had let to his sister-in-law after relocating to 10 Downing Street following his general election win, was set alight in the early hours of May 12.
The London Fire Brigade alerted police to reports of a fire at 1.35am and were able to bring it under control within 20 minutes, with the blaze damaging the porch of the property.
It came just 24 hours after a flat the Prime Minister previously lived at, in the nearby Islington area, caught fire, in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Firefighters attended the blaze, helping one person to safety, with the door of the property suffering fire damage.
On May 8, on the same street as Sir Keir’s Kentish Town property, a car he sold to a neighbour last year also burst into flames.
The new owner of the Toyota Rav 4 is understood to have thought the fire started because of a faulty battery.
The hybrid car was completely destroyed in the blaze, which occurred on VE Day.
Anyone with information that could assist the investigation is being asked to call police on 101 quoting CAD 441/12 May.
