A court in Ukraine has sentenced in absentia Olga Kovitidi, a member of the Russian parliament's upper chamber, the Federation Council, to 11 years in prison on charges of collaboration with occupying Russian forces and justification of Moscow's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the Kyiv-controlled Prosecutor's Office of Crimea said on November 29. Kovitidi, 61, served as a Ukrainian lawmaker in Crimea, deputy mayor of Sevastopol, and an aide to the Ukrainian justice minister until Russia seized Crimea in 2014. She supported the annexation and then became a member of Russia's Federation Council. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.
