Putin defends 8-1/2-year jail sentence for Russian opposition politician

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday it was wrong to question the imprisonment of opposition politician Ilya Yashin, who had been sentenced hours earlier to eight-and-a-half years in prison for disseminating "fake information" about Russia's armed forces.

"Who is Yashin?" Putin asked at first, when a reporter asked him to comment on the court ruling, before saying it was wrong to doubt a court's decision.