Russia's jailed Ukrainian ‘spy journalist’ was supposedly looking for intelligence about a new separatist attack on Mariupol

Sources told the newspaper Kommersant that the Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko was convicted of espionage for trying to collect intelligence about a possible attack on Mariupol being planned by pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk, as well as information about Russia’s National Guard. On June 4, in a closed hearing, a Russian court sentenced Sushchenko to 12 years in prison. Sushchenko’s acquaintances reportedly believe that Russian intelligence agents learned about his military training and colonel rank in the Ukrainian military and therefore placed him under surveillance.

The journalist’s attorney, Mark Feygin, vowed to appeal the ruling, also telling reporters that his client could be swapped for RIA Novosti Ukraine chief editor Kirill Vyshinsky, who was arrested last month in Kiev on treason charges.

Russian federal agents arrested Roman Sushchenko in Moscow in the fall of 2016. According to the FSB, Sushchenko was working for Ukrainian military intelligence, collecting classified information about Russia’s military and National Guard. Both Sushchenko and Kiev deny the allegations.

In recent years, Russian officials have opened multiple cases against individuals allegedly spying for the Ukrainian government. For example, in October 2015, a Russian court sentenced Yuriy Soloshenko, the former director of a Ukrainian defense factory, to six years in prison for espionage. In June 2016, Soloshenko was pardoned with another imprisoned Ukrainian man, Hennadiy Afanasyev, and exchanged for suspects accused of fomenting separatism in the Odessa region.