a gang extorted money from archaeologists for work in eastern Ukraine

An extortionist, who targeted archaeologists through their work, has been imprisoned for six-and-a-half years. The Mikolayev/Nikolaev District Court had previously convicted him of (and put him on probation for) ‘fraud [мошенничество]’. On the 29th of April 2014, the Court of Appeal upheld his conviction and sentence, which reflected the extortion and the violation of the conditions of his probation. This is not related to the crisis.