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A court in Russia’s second city Saint Petersburg on Wednesday sentenced a member of a notorious neo-Nazi group to nine years in prison for murder and inciting hatred.
Sergei Katkov was a member of a neo-Nazi group which was behind a spate of racially-motivated assaults and two murders dating back to the 2000s.
The group consisted of around two dozen young people, including minors, and many of them have since received prison terms.
Katkov was reportedly only caught last year.
“He told the court he simply supported his friends,” the Saint Petersburg city court said in a statement.
Racism and racist attacks on Asians and Africans have been a long-standing problem in Russia. The former imperial capital Saint Petersburg was especially notorious for assaults of this type but the situation has somewhat improved in recent years.