Prison sentence cut for ex-Ukrainian prime minister convicted in US of corruption in homeland

Former Ukraine leader’s prison sentence reduced

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge has reduced the prison sentence of a former Ukrainian prime minister convicted in the U.S. of corruption in his homeland.

U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer cut Pavlo Lazarenko’s nine-year sentence by 11 months on Wednesday.

The move came after an appeals court last year tossed out six of Lazarenko’s 14 convictions in 2004 for extortion, corruption and other charges.

Lazarenko served as Ukraine’s prime minister from 1996 to 1997 then fled to the U.S. and applied for political asylum.

The U.S. government instead arrested him and showed he used his tenure to siphon off huge profits from the distribution of natural gas in the former Soviet republic.