The Moscow City Court convicted a member of Pravy Sector (Right Sector), a far-right Ukrainian group that shot to fame in the Maidan protests and was quickly declared extremist in Russia, to seven years in prison for trying to recruit two Russian policemen to fight for Ukraine in that country's war-torn east, the Kommersant newspaper reported Monday.
Alexander Razumov was a police volunteer in Russia, Kommersant reported. He left for Ukraine in March 2014, according to the prosecution, joined Pravy Sector and two months later returned to Russia to recruit new members.
In August 2014 he tried to recruit two policemen he had previously been acquainted with in the Moscow district of Zelenograd, the investigation established. Razumov allegedly asked them about their incomes and told them they could earn much more money in Ukraine. The officers complained to their supervisors, and the probe into Razumov was launched.
His connection to Pravy Sector was established through his postings on the Russian social network VKontakte that contained nationalist and hatred-inciting statements calling Russians and Muscovites offensive names, the investigators said.
Razumov is not the first person to be jailed over the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Late last month, Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov was sentenced to 20 years in prison for planning a terrorist attack in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
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