MOSCOW, May 25 (RAPSI) — The Second Western District Military Court on Tuesday sentenced two ex-police officers of the Krasnodar Directorate of the Interior Ministry Maxim Kotomanov and Dmitry Krasilnikov to 17 and 14 years in high-security penal colony respectively for planning to send letters with poisonous substances to diplomatic missions, the court’s press service told RAPSI.

On Monday, public prosecutors moved to sentence the defendants to16 and 18 years in a maximum security penal colony.

former police officers of the Krasnodar Directorate of the Interior Ministry Maxim Kotomanov and Dmitry Krasilnikov charged with planning to send letters with poisonous substances to diplomatic missions, the press service of the Second Western District Military Court inform RAPSI.  

Prosecutors ask the court to sentence Kotomanov to 18 years and Krasilnikov to 16 years in a strict regime penal colony; Kotomanov, additionally, is requested to be fined 1.5 million rubles (about $20,000 at the current exchange rate), according to press secretary Irina Zhirnova.

It is expected that the sentence will be made public on Tuesday. 

According to the court's database, the defendants are accused of illegal circulation of potent substances, attempted attack on persons or institutions that enjoy international protection, attempted smuggling of poisonous substances, attempted terrorist act and the creation of a terrorist community. 

Investigators allege that the former police officers planned to send letters with a poisonous substance based on mercury to employees of diplomatic missions of foreign states.