On June 4, Moscow City Court will deliver a sentence to Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko.
The prosecutor demanded the Ukrainian citizen be jailed for 14 years, lawyer Mark Feygin said on Twitter.
Roman Sushchenko, a correspondent of the Ukrainian National News Agency Ukrinform, was detained in September, 2016 in Moscow. On October 7, he was charged with espionage.
“The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation detained an officer of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine Sushchenko Roman Vladimirovich while conducting an espionage operation in Moscow. The Ukrainian national was purposefully collecting information on the Russian Armed Forces and National Guard, constituting state secrets, the disclosure of which could have undermined Russia’s defense capabilities,” the Federal Security Service (FSB) reported.
The Ukrainian side flatly denies the journalist’s links to intelligence services and urges the Kremlin to immediately release him.
Meanwhile, UA: Ukrainian Radio employee Pavlo Sharoiko was sentenced to eight years in prison in Belarus. He was arrested in Minsk in late October and also accused of espionage. According to the Belarusian authorities, Sharoiko, an officer of Ukraine’s military intelligence, worked undercover as a radio correspondent and created a spy network of the citizens of Belarus. The Belarusian KGB’s version of his story has a close resemblance to that of Sushchenko.
- Opinion: Russian news agency employee may be swapped for Ukraine journo arrested in Moscow
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КА, belsat.eu
