Moscow-installed leader in occupied Donbas sentenced In absentia to 15 years in prison

Denis Pushilin, the Moscow-appointed puppet leader of the so-called "DPR", was sentenced to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property, reported the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office.

The verdict was handed down under the articles of encroachment on the integrity of Ukraine and collaborative activities. Pushilin will serve his sentence in case of detention.

Prosecutors proved in court that in September 2022, the terrorist convened and held an extraordinary meeting of the sham council of the "DPR", where they adopted "the law on the referendum of the 'DPR' on the issue of joining the Russian Federation."

Pushilin repeatedly conveyed the need to join the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast to the Russian Federation, prosecutors write.

Thereby, he called for the seizure of the territory of Ukraine by the aggressor state. On September 30, 2022, Pushilin signed an "agreement" with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on the entry of the "DPR" and the newly occupied territories of Donetsk Oblast into Russia, supposedly with the rights of an administrative subject.

Denis Pushilin hails from occupied Makiyivka in Donetsk Oblast. He is 42 years old. He became the second leader of the terrorist group in November 2018 after the assassination of the first leader Aleksandr Zakharchenko.