German court convicts priest, nephew of well-known Russian TV anchor for fighting in Ukraine

A German court has sentenced Sergey Kiselev, the nephew of famous Russian TV anchor Dmitry Kiselev, to two years and three months in prison for participating in hostilities in eastern Ukraine.

Novaya Gazeta reports that an investigation began in Germany at the end of 2017,  one year after an interview took place with a TV host for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. During the interview, Dmitry Kiselev said his nephew had fought “somewhere near Gorlovka” in eastern Ukraine. In another interview with blogger Yuri Dudiu this year, Kiselev also noted that Sergey “had been awarded a medal”.

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ANNA-News interviewed Sergey Kiselev during a Munich court session in 2014. Kiselev admitted to participating in skirmishes on the territory of Ukraine near Donetsk. He was quoted as saying that he had fired a grenade launcher at Ukrainian armored vehicles.

The court found Kiselev guilty of “violating the law on the possession of weapons” and for “preparing serious crimes threatening state security”. Kiselev and his lawyer admitted that he was in the east of Ukraine, but that he did not kill anyone.

The German media reported that Kiselev has been in Germany since about 1996. Two years earlier, he was ordained as a priest in Russia and served for about two years in the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow.