Ukrainian diplomat sentenced in absentia to six years in prison in Russia

A court in Russia has sentenced former Ukrainian ambassador to Kazakhstan Petro Vrublevsky to 6 years in prison in absentia for his statements about the murders of Russians. This was reported by the Russian media, UNN reports.

Details

According to the Russian Federation, the term of the sentence will be calculated from the moment of extradition of the former ambassador to the territory of Russia or from the moment of his detention.

It is noted that back in March, Vrublevsky was taken into custody in absentia and put on the international and federal wanted list.

Russian law enforcement agencies claimed that such measures were taken as part of a criminal case opened against Vrublevsky “after his calls to kill as many Russians as possible around the world.

Context

In an interview with Kazakh blogger Dyas Kuzairov in August 2022, the Ukrainian diplomat said: “We are trying to kill as many of them as possible. The more Russians we kill now, the less our children will have to kill. That's all.

The Russian Foreign Ministry accused Vrublevsky of allegedly confirming “national cleansing”. And the Kazakh Foreign Ministry summoned the Ukrainian ambassador and protested these statements: they stated that such statements were unacceptable and incompatible with the activities of the ambassador of a foreign state.

It should be noted that the Kazakh authorities refused Russia's request to expel the Ukrainian ambassador because of his phrase about the murders of Russians, but asked Kyiv to replace the diplomat. In turn, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the ambassador at Astana's request.

Recall

In Russia, a 35-year-old Ukrainian woman, Kristina Lyubashenko, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for launching balloons with a white, blue and white flag in Moscow .