Image copyright Google Maps Image caption Vadim Bezkorovainiy denies plotting violence against the Russian embassy in London or its ambassador

A Ukrainian nationalist planned a terror attack against the Russian embassy in London, a court has heard.

Vadim Bezkorovainiy, 35, carried out three reconnaissance missions to the embassy from his home in Luton in 2014, prosecutors said.

He was "radicalised" in eastern Europe during a period of escalating tension between Russia and his homeland in 2012 and 2013, the Old Bailey heard.

The father-of two denies engaging in preparations to commit acts of terror.

The alleged terror plot was revealed in March last year when Mr Bezkorovainiy's home in Old Bedford Road was raided by police who suspected him of using false identity documents, the jury heard.

Garden on fire

Among the items recovered were handwritten notes the prosecution claims were drafts of a speech he planned to make at a press conference in the aftermath of the planned attack on the Embassy of the Russian Federation.

Jurors were told one of the notes read: "Being under the constant cover and surveillance by Scotland Yard, the Russian embassy in London did not manage to avoid destruction... Security ended up powerless.

"Now one (sic) can imagine what will happen to Moscow, St Petersburg, the regional centres, if we redeploy fighters who are simply going to smash everything around them."

Prosecutor Robin Sellars said in the days leading up to his arrest Mr Bezkorovainiy was overheard talking to his nine-year-old daughter about using guns, setting the neighbour's garden on fire and bomb-making.

A laptop found at his home also revealed searches for explosives and a memory card showed images of embassy buildings that were partially obscured as though the photos had been taken covertly, the court heard.

The defendant had returned to Ukraine between September 2012 and January 2013 to "potentially fight in the tensions" in the region and it was during this time he became radicalised, the jury was told.

Mr Sellars said: "His exposure to the tensions in that region first-hand had the effect of radicalising Mr Bezkorovainiy to the extent that he decided to take matters into his own hands once back in the UK."

The trial continues.