The court in Moscow annulled the sentence in absentia to the Ukrainian diplomat Vrublevsky

The Moscow City Court overturned the verdict against the former ambassador of Ukraine to Kazakhstan Petro Vrublevskyi. In August 2024, the diplomat was sentenced in absentia in the Russian Federation to six years in prison for “inciting hatred or enmity.” Now his case will be reviewed by the Basmanny District Court in a different composition, official Russian news agencies report.

According to these reports, Vrublevsky’s defense noted at the court hearing that the diplomat’s statements were not criminal. The state prosecution insisted on the legality of the previously passed sentence.

The reason for the persecution of Vrublevsky was his interview with blogger Dias Kuzairov, which the diplomat gave in August 2022, when he was the ambassador of Ukraine to Kazakhstan. Speaking about Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, he said: “We are trying to kill them as much as possible. The more we kill Russians now, the less our children will have to kill.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan stated that they had a conversation with Vrublevsky, after which he apologized for his remarks. The Russian side demanded the expulsion of the diplomat from Kazakhstan, the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized at the time that the ambassador would leave his post, but “no one has forbidden his entry and will not.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi fired Vrublevsky in October 2022, and the Investigative Committee of Russia began an investigation. In March 2024, the diplomat was arrested in absentia in Russia and declared a federal and international wanted man.