Russia sentences popular cookbook author over Ukraine posts

MOSCOW (AP) — A court in Moscow has sentenced a popular cookbook author and blogger to nine years in prison after convicting her in absentia of spreading false information about the country’s military. The trial was part of the Kremlin’s sweeping crackdown on dissent. The charges against Veronika Belotserkovskaya, who lives abroad, were brought over her Instagram posts that the authorities alleged contained “deliberately false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to destroy cities and the civilian population of Ukraine, including children.” Belotserkovskaya was handed Monday the longest prison sentence under a new law penalizing information seen as disparaging for the Russian military. She’s the second prominent public figure to be sentenced in absentia.