MOSCOW. Feb 26 (Interfax) - Ukrainian citizen Ihor Pirozhok, who was detained in Russia in 2018 while trying to recruit several people to the Right Sector organization, which is prohibited in Russia, has been sentenced to four years in a general-security penal colony for extremism, the press service for the Federal Security Service's Directorate for Moscow and the Moscow region told Interfax in a statement.
"The sentence handed down by the Second Western District Military Court to Ukrainian citizen Ihor Pirozhok, born in 1968, an active member of the Ukrainian right-radical organization Right Sector, which is prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation due to extremist activities, has taken legal effect," the statement said.
Pirozhok was earlier convicted for fanning ethnic feud, he had right-wing radical views and shared the ideas of Ukrainian nationalism, the Federal Security Service said. "At the same time, Ihor Pirozhok was an ardent opponent of the reunion of Crimea and Russia and a supporter of the so-called Maidan, an anticonstitutional coup that took place in Ukraine in 2014. Ihor Pirozhok joined the extremist organization Right Sector, taking the position of its political leader for the Berdichevsky district of the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine," it said.
It was also determined that Pirozhok, also known as Roman Chirka, created and headed the Khorti unit, which provided physical and technical assistance to pro-Ukrainian groups for reconnaissance, sabotage, and terrorist activities on the territory of Russia and in Donbas. Additionally, he published materials supporting the ideology of terrorism on the Internet.
"In January 2018, Ihor Pirozhok arrived in the Moscow region to increase the number of members of the extremist organization Right Sector and to disseminate its ideology on the territory of Russia, where he found two candidates for recruitment, whom he tried to involve in the activities of Right Sector, but they refused to join the organization and reported Ihor Pirozhok's activities to the law enforcement agencies," the press service said.
Pirozhok was found guilty of organizing and participating in the activities of an extremist organization and justification of terrorism.