Ukraine's consul in Moscow Albert Cherniyuk has recently visited Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko, illegally convicted in Russia, in a penal colony in Kirovo-Chepetsk, Sushchenko's public defender Mark Feygin has told an Ukrinform correspondent.

"Ukrainian consul Albert Cherniyuk visited my client Roman Sushchenko yesterday. I also intend to visit Roman in the near future," Feygin said.

Ukrinform's Paris-based correspondent Roman Sushchenko was illegally detained on September 30, 2016 in Moscow, where he arrived on a private trip. On October 7, 2016, he was charged with "espionage." Russia's FSB claimed that Sushchenko is a member of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. The latter denied this allegation.

On June 4, 2018, the Moscow City Court sentenced Sushchenko to 12 years in a high-security penal colony. The Supreme Court of Russia upheld the verdict on September 12.

On November 7, the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) informed Ukraine's Embassy in Moscow that Sushchenko had been transferred to Penal Colony No. 11 of the FSIN directorate for the Kirov region (the town of Kirovo-Chepetsk, the village of Utrobino).

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