New Delhi, Nov. 23 -- A hard-right British politician and former ally of Reform U.K. leader Nigel Farage was sentenced Friday to 10 1/2 years in prison for accepting bribes to make favorable statements about Russia in the European Parliament.

Nathan Gill, 52, pleaded guilty earlier this year to eight counts of bribery between December 2018 and July 2019. Police have estimated that the former leader of Reform in Wales took around 40,000 pounds ($53,000) in bribes.

Prosecutors said Gill, a member of the European Union legislature until the U.K.'s departure from the bloc in early 2020, was tasked by the former pro-Russia Ukrainian politician Oleg Voloshyn to make pro-Russian statements about events in Ukraine in the European Parliament and...