A Russian court has sentenced Ukrainian journalist Roman Shutshenko to 12 years in prison for espionage.
Suchenko was arrested by the Federal Security Service (FSB) in October 2016. The FSB had claimed that Suchenko was working for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's intelligence service and was gathering information on Russian military and Russian security forces.
The trial was held in camera because it was considered a "top secret" case. Among other things, the court confiscated Shutshenko's tape recorder, which he handed over to the FSB.
Suchenko's lawyer Mark Feigin said he would appeal, but did not rule out the possibility of Suchenko exchanging views with Russian journalist Vyshinsky, who was recently arrested in Ukraine on similar charges.
"The verdict gives the opportunity to exchange (Suchenko) with Vyshinsky… I know Kiev's position, they want to exchange Suchenko," he told reporters.
The Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform had announced after his arrest that Sutsenko had been working for the agency since 2002. He had also denied the allegations of espionage, saying the journalist was on leave and had gone to Moscow for personal reasons.
At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry had announced that Susensko had not addressed the ministry when he arrived in Moscow for accreditation. However, Suchenko did not accept this claim.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has proposed that Suchenko be exchanged with Ria Novosti's director in Ukraine Kirill Vyshinsky.