Updated

A Russian court has sentenced nine ultranationalists to up to 23 years in jail for a series of hate-motivated killings.

The Moscow City Court said in a statement Thursday that 12 mostly underage neo-Nazis who called themselves "White Wolves" have been charged with 11 murders and one assault since April 2007.

It said a jury found nine of them guilty of six murders and one assault.

The group was formed on Adolf Hitler's birthday to "exterminate" non-Russians.

Its participants fatally stabbed Central Asians and other non-Slavs with dark skin or Asian features. They often videotaped the attacks and posted them online.

Russia has experienced a surge of racist assaults, xenophobia and neo-Nazism in recent years.