A Moscow court has handed Pyotr Vrublevsky a six-year prison sentence in absentia

A Moscow court has sentenced a former Ukrainian ambassador to Kazakhstan, Pyotr Vrublevsky, to six years in prison in absentia over his call for the mass killing of Russians.

Vrublevsky was found guilty of committing "acts aimed at inciting hatred and enmity" against a group of people "based on nationality...with the threat of violence," according to the Basmanny District Court's press service.

The charges stem from an August 2022 interview in which Vrublevsky stated that Ukraine was trying to "kill as many Russians as possible."

"The more Russians we kill now, the fewer our children will have to," the diplomat told a local blogger in Kazakhstan six months after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict.

His remarks sparked outrage both among the Russian community in the Central Asian country and in Russia. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram at the time that "only an ambassador of a terrorist regime can say such things."

Kazakh officials condemned his words as incitement of ethnic hatred and inappropriate for a diplomat. In September 2022, Astana stated that Vrublevsky had apologized for his remarks and subsequently went on vacation.

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Last year, Russian authorities issued an arrest warrant for Vrublevsky, placing him on both federal and international wanted lists, as well as adding him to the country's registry of terrorists and extremists.

The ruling on Monday effectively upholds a similar decision made by a Moscow court last August that was subsequently overturned by a higher court due to irregularities. The case was then sent to be reviewed again.  

Vrublevsky was fired from his post in Kazakhstan in October 2022. His whereabouts are currently unknown as he has not made any public appearances since his dismissal.