MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/. A court in Ukraine has sentenced in absentia three Russian State Duma members, including the 12th world chess champion, Anatoly Karpov, to imprisonment for supporting Russia's decision to recognize the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics in February 2022.

"A court in Ternopol has sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison three members of the State Duma, who voted in favor of recognizing the DPR and LPR. Based on the collected evidence, the court found the Russian legislators guilty under part 3 of article 110 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine)," the Ternopol Region’s office of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on its Facebook page (Facebook is banned in Russia; belongs to the corporation Meta, recognized in Russia as extremist).

The two other State Duma members mentioned in the verdict alongside Karpov are Viktor Kazakov and Georgy Karlov.