Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko was placed in detention for two months by Lefortovo District Court in Moscow on Oct. 3 after being arrested by Russia’s Federal Security Service on charges of spying.
Sushchenko worked as a foreign correspondent in Paris, France, for Ukrainian online news agency Ukrinform. He was in Moscow in personal business, Ukrinform said.
Ukrinform rejected the charges against their employee, and said the FSB violated the law while arresting him. According to Ukrinform, the federal security agents officially informed neither his employer nor his wife of his arrest, although his relatives in Moscow were aware he had been detained.
“Ukrinform considers the detention of Sushchenko, who has worked for our agency since 2002, and as a correspondent in France since in 2010, as a planned provocation,” an Ukrinform statement read.News of the Ukrainian journalist’s detention first broke when Russian human rights activists noticed
News of the Ukrainian journalist’s detention first broke when Russian human rights activists noticed Sushchenko being held in Moscow’s Lefortovo jail.According to Ukrainska Pravda, Russian
According to Ukrainska Pravda, Russian journalist and human rights activist Zoya Svetlova said she had spotted Sushchenko in the quarantine department of the prison.“He said that he was a journalist accused of spying. He didn’t give any details about his arrest or the charges,” Svetlova said.
The FSB claims Sushchenko is a Ukrainian Defense Ministry intelligence agent who had been collecting secret information about Russia’s National Guard. According to the agency’s website, the leaking of the information could harm state security. The FSB also said it had detained Sushchenko in a counter-espionage operation.
Sushchenko’s wife has hired Russian lawyer Mark Feygin to defend her husband. Previously, Feygin served as a lawyer for Ukrainian air-force pilot Nadiya Savchenko and former chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev.
Via his Twitter account, Feygin called on Russian journalists to help their Ukrainian colleague. “The persecution of journalists – it is against all of you,” Feygin wrote.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian lawmaker Iryna Gerashchenko appealed to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe, asking them to call for Sushchenko’s immediate release. On her Facebook page, she said that Sushchenko had been detained only because he is Ukrainian citizen and has a Ukrainian passport. She said that Sushchenko was a clever and professional journalist, whom she had often met during her working trips.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also appealed for the immediate release of Sushchenko. The ministry said the detaining of the Ukrainian journalist as a political hostage was part of Russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine.The speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, Andriy Parubiy, said on Oct. 3 he would propose that Ukraine’s lawmakers consider introducing a visa regime for Russian visitors to Ukraine in response to
The speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, Andriy Parubiy, said on Oct. 3 he would propose that Ukraine’s lawmakers consider introducing a visa regime for Russian visitors to Ukraine in response to Sushchenko’s detention.
