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A separatist rebel leader in Ukraine who called Putin cowardly is sentenced to 4 years in prison
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Igor Girkin also know as Igor Strelkov, the former military chief for Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, sits in a glass cage in a courtroom at the Moscow's City Court in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. - photo by AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The Moscow City Court on Thursday convicted a former Ukraine rebel leader who called President Vladimir Putin cowardly of extremism and sentenced him to four years in prison. Igor Girkin, who used the surname alias of Strelkov (shooter), was the most prominent leader of Russian-backed separatist fighters in Ukraine’s Donetsk region in 2014, when rebellion arose after the ouster of Ukraine’s Russia-allied president. He returned to Russia and became a nationalist commentator and activist.