Pensioner convicted in Rostov-on-Don for attempting to blow up military vehicle

In Rostov-on-Don, a military court sentenced Larisa Gavrilenko to sixteen years of imprisonment, finding her guilty of attempting to blow up a truck transporting military personnel.

Larisa Gavrilenko has been charged under four articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, including under articles on attempted terrorist attack, participation in a terrorist community, illegal trafficking of explosive devices, and high treason.

According to the public prosecutors’ version, in September 2023, Larisa Gavrilenko, “being an adherent of pro-Ukrainian ideology,” established contact with an agent of the Ukrainian special services and agreed to carry out his assignment. The woman got two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from her accomplices through a hiding place. She brought them home and stored them until October 21, 2023, the military court’s press service reports in its statement.

The verdict states that on the morning of October 21, Larisa Gavrilenko, being instructed by from an SBU (Ukrainian security service) officer, came to a parking lot where a vehicle of the Russian armed forces was parked, planted explosive devices between the cabin and the cargo compartment, and activated the detonator.

The bomb was designed to explode after two hours and forty-five minutes, but the explosion did not occur, as the explosive device was discovered, defused, and seized “during an operational search event,” the military court’s official Telegram channel reports.

Larisa Gavrilenko has been sentenced to sixteen years of imprisonment in a common-security penal colony. The convicted woman is 64 years old. She has also been sentenced to one and a half years of restricted freedom and a fine of 600,000 roubles as an additional punishment.

This was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 10, 2025 at 11:54 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.