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Putin Assassination Plotter Gets 10-Year Sentence

Moscow City Court has handed down a 10-year sentence to a Kazakh national found guilty of plotting to assassinate President Vladimir Putin in 2011.

The judge said in his ruling that Ivan Pyanzin's crime carried a heightened danger for society, but also noted mitigating circumstances, Interfax reported.

Pyanzin complied with all the conditions of his pretrial agreement, the judge said, exposing details of the attempt on Putin's life and information concerning an attempt to kill Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov in 2002.

The court also noted positive character testimonials, the fact that Pyanzin is the father of a young child, and that it was his first offense.

Tuesday's hearing was closed to the public at the defendant's request.

Investigators said Pyanzin was invited to join a militant group under the control of North Caucasus-based Islamic insurgency leader Doku Umarov in Ukraine in December 2011.

The group was allegedly tasked with assassinating Putin as revenge for his role in the Russian government's violent struggle with illegal armed bands in Chechnya.

Investigators believe that the group was going to plant an automobile loaded with explosives along the route to be taken by Putin's motorcade after the presidential election on March 4, 2012.

Pyanzin was arrested along with another suspect in an apartment outside Odessa after a fire broke out when the group tested an explosive device. Pyanzin was extradited to Russia from Ukraine in August 2012.

Information about the planned attack was made public less than a week before the presidential election, prompting speculations that it may have been a fabrication intended to boost Putin's popularity.

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