Several British men were charged under a new national security law for supporting Russia by carrying out an arson attack on a Ukraine-linked business.

The men were charged with offenses “in order to benefit Russia” by conducting “hostile activity in the UK,” according to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Dylan Earl, 20, is suspected of involvement “in foreign power threat activity” and allegedly planned the arson attack. He has been charged under the National Security Act 2023, marking the first time that the CPS has brought charges under the new legislation.

“We have spoken publicly in recent times about various threats linked to national security that we have been facing, and the increase in operational activity required across counter terrorism policing to meet these,” Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police Service’s counter terrorism command, said.

The UK has worked with the US in recent weeks to step up sanctions enforcement of Russian activities, including sweeping restrictions announced two weeks ago on trading aluminum, copper and nickel mined in the country. The allies are also reviewing more than $20 billion of cryptocurrency transactions through a Russia-based virtual exchange, Bloomberg reported last month.

The National Security Act 2023, which came into force last December, widened the scope for activities that could be charged as threats to national security - including theft of trade secrets and attempts to access certain sites - giving authorities more powers to prosecute modern forms of spying.

Paul English, 60, and Nii Mensah, 21, were charged with aggravated arson. Jake Reeves, 22, is accused of agreeing to “accept a material benefit from a foreign intelligence service as well as aggravated arson.” A fifth man, Dmitrijus Paulauska, 22, was charged with having information about terrorist acts.

The men will appear at London’s Old Bailey on May 10.

With assistance from Brendan Scott.