Russia jails leader of banned nationalist group

A Russian court on Wednesday sentenced ultranationalist politician Alexander Belov, a former leader of a banned anti-immigration movement, to seven and a half years in prison for extremism and money laundering. Belov was formerly coordinator of the populist Movement Against Illegal Immigrants, or DPNI, which had the slogan "Russia for (ethnic) Russians" and was banned as extremist in 2011. Its leaders then formed a new nationalist movement called "Russians" that was banned last year. Moscow's Meshchansky district court found Belov, whose real surname is Potkin, guilty of forming an "extremist" group and inciting ethnic hatred as well as perpetrating financial crimes, Russia's prosecutor general's office said. The financial crime accusations relate to Belov's alleged ties with exiled Kazakh oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov, who is currently awaiting extradition from France on embezzlement charges. Belov was found guilty of seeking to whip up ethnic tensions in Kazakhstan, a key Russia ally, on Ablyazov's pay. Belov pleaded not guilty and told journalists in court Wednesday that the case was "blatantly flimsy," RIA Novosti state news agency reported. Belov was formerly one of the organisers of an annual "Russian March" rally in Moscow, an officially sanctioned event that attracted tens of thousands at the height of its popularity, including skinheads throwing Nazi salutes. In 2011 anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny, a more moderate nationalist who rallied the liberal opposition against President Vladimir Putin's re-election, was a co-organiser of the march with Belov. The Kremlin has since sought to appeal to the ultranationalists' support base and co-opt their message of patriotic jingoism. Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in 2014 prompted an explosion of national pride summed up by the slogan "Crimea is ours" and saw Putin's approval rating soar.