Former Ukrainian ambassador to Kazakhstan sentenced in absentia in Russia

The Basmanny Court of Moscow has handed down a verdict in absentia to former Ukrainian Ambassador to Kazakhstan Petro Vrublevskyi under an article on incitement to hatred.

Source: Russian media outlet Meduza with reference to the press service of Moscow courts of general jurisdiction

Details: The court sentenced Vrublevskyi to six years in prison. 

It is noted that since Vrublevskyi is not in Russia, his sentence will be calculated from the moment of his extradition to Russia or from the moment of his detention in Russia.

Background:

• At the end of August 2022, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan summoned Petro Vrublevskyi, the Ambassador of Ukraine, and expressed protest against his remarks about Russians.
• The reason for summoning the ambassador was his interview on 21 August with Kazakh blogger Dias Kuzairov, in which Vrublevskyi said, in particular: "We are trying to kill as many of them as possible. The more Russians we kill now, the fewer our children will have to kill."
• In September 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan said that Ukrainian Ambassador Petro Vrublevskyi had apologised for his words.
• On 5 October, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed a protest to Kazakhstan over the non-expulsion of Ukrainian Ambassador Vrublevskyi. Maria Vladimirovna Zakharova, the director of the information and press department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, said that they expect the expulsion of "this odious nationalist". She called the Ukrainian diplomat a "pro-Bandera emissary".
• On 19 October 2022, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree dismissing Petro Vrublevskyy from the post of Ukraine's ambassador to Kazakhstan.

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