MOSCOW, August 16 (RAPSI, Yevgeniya Sokolova) – Moscow’s Meshchansky District Court will read out the sentence to Russian nationalist Alexander Potkin, who stands charged with embezzlement and organization of an extremist movement, on August 24, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.

A prosecutor earlier asked the court to sentence Potkin to nine years in penal colony.

According to prosecution, Potkin, who is also known as Alexander Belov, used money embezzled from Kazakh BTA Bank to organize an extremist movement. Potkin has pleaded not guilty.

Investigators claim that Mukhtar Ablyazov, former chairman of the bank, who wanted to destabilize the constitutional order in Kazakhstan, asked Potkin to help him with organizing an extremist group. Potkin allegedly agreed and used funds embezzled from BTA Bank to spread the nationalist ideology in Kazakhstan.

Belov was arrested on October 15, 2014 at the Hotel Intourist Kolomenskoe in Moscow on charges related to the embezzlement of $5 billion from BTA Bank. At the time of the arrest, Belov allegedly had documents on him that effectively tied him to the embezzlement.

Investigators believe that Belov (Potkin) was a mastermind in a money laundering operation in 2012-2014. He was also suspected of involvement in laundering money that was embezzled from BTA Bank by its former chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov.

Ablyazov, who allegedly defrauded BTA Bank of more than $6 billion, left Kazakhstan for the UK, where he was granted political asylum in 2011. However, he remained a fugitive from justice since February 2012.

Ablyazov’s whereabouts remained unknown until he was detained on July 31, 2015 near Cannes, France. Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine are all seeking his extradition.

In October 2015, French authorities approved Ablyazov’s extradition to Russia.