The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on July 26 that a court in Ukraine had sentenced in absentia 18 lawmakers in the Russian parliament's lower chamber, the State Duma, to 15 years in prison each on a charge of encroaching on the territorial integrity of Ukraine. The lawmakers in mid-February 2022 called on President Vladimir Putin to recognize separatist-controlled parts of Ukraine's eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent states and ratified corresponding documents after Putin signed them. Moscow used the documents to justify its ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine launched on February 24, 2022. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.
Ukrainian Court Sentences In Absentia 18 Russian Lawmakers To 15 Years In Prison
Russian lawmakers attend a session at the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament. (file photo)