In brief
A London court has revealed that the Michelin-starred restaurant Hide, owned by dissident Yevgeny Chichvarkin, was the focus of a Russian-directed kidnapping and arson plot involving local criminals.
On July 8, 2025, the Old Bailey courthouse in London witnessed shocking revelations regarding Hide, a Michelin-starred restaurant located in the fashionable Mayfair area, which opened its doors in 2018. Initially praised for its stunning architecture and eclectic wine selection, the eatery has found itself embroiled in a sinister international plot.Russian intelligence operatives reportedly directed a group of British criminals to kidnap Yevgeny Chichvarkin, who has differentiated himself as a staunch critic of President Vladimir Putin. The plot also involved burning down Hide and a wine shop associated with it. Police apprehended the group before they executed their sinister plans, but not before they managed to carry out a different act of arson: setting fire to a Ukrainian-owned warehouse in East London in March 2024.The investigation shed light on the communications between the operatives and the criminal gang, revealing an intricate network utilizing local men to conduct espionage and sabotage throughout Europe. Cmdr. Dominic Murphy, who oversees the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, described these findings as a stark example of Russian state organizations employing "proxies" for serious criminal activities on foreign soil.This week, a jury found three men guilty of arson in connection to the warehouse fire and convicted a fourth for failing to report the kidnapping plans targeting Chichvarkin and his enterprises. The primary orchestrators of this plot, Dylan Earl and Jake Reeves, have already confessed to their involvement in the scheme, raising alarms about the extent of foreign influence in domestic crimes.
