Yakovlev Aleksey Sergeevich

Alexey Yakovlev, a 24-year-old former fighter of the Wagner PMC, and Sergey Butuzov, a 23-year-old unemployed local resident, were detained in Saratov on March 13, 2024. According to the security forces' version, in the evening of March 11, young people entered a gas station in Leninsky district, where they purchased 1.5 liters of diesel fuel and a lighter. Then they went along the railway and set fire to a certain object of Russian Railways located in the north of Saratov, between the stations Trofimovsky-2 and Zorinsky. An investigation by the Volga Transport Internal Affairs Directorate into the arson initiated a criminal case for terrorism. During the search of the former Wagnerite, a jacket and sneakers were seized, in which he allegedly was at the time of the arson, as well as a phone and a bank card with which he paid at a gas station when purchasing fuel. It is claimed that photos and video reports of arson were found on Yakovlev's phone. During questioning, Yakovlev and Butuzov admitted that they were carrying out an assignment on the instructions of a Telegram correspondent for 15 thousand rubles. Both men were sent to pre-trial detention during the investigation. On April 2, 2025, the Saratov Regional Court found both defendants in the case guilty and sentenced Alexei Yakovlev to imprisonment for a term of 14 years, with the first 3 years to be served in prison, and the remaining part of the sentence in a strict regime correctional colony, and Andrei Butuzov - to imprisonment for a term of 12 years, with the first 2 years to be served in prison, and the remaining part of the sentence in a strict regime correctional colony. July 17, 2025, the Fourth Appellate Court of General Jurisdiction left the sentence unchanged.