Ukrainian consul gains access to Sushchenko at Lefortovo prison
KYIV. Oct 10 (Interfax) - A Ukrainian consul met with the journalist Roman Sushchenko, who Russia claims is a Ukrainian intelligence colonel, at the Lefortovo detention facility in Moscow on Monday.
"Our information is that the Ukrainian consul has met with Roman Sushchenko," Mykhailo Chaplyga, a spokesman for Ukrainian ombudsman Valeria Lutkovska, told Interfax on Monday evening, adding that he received this information from the office of Russian ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova.
On October 3, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said that its officers in Moscow "arrested Col. Roman Sushchenko, an employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, during a spy operation." The FSB opened a criminal case under Article 276 (espionage) of the Russian Criminal Code, an inquiry is underway.
The Lefortovo court in Moscow placed Sushchenko under a two-month arrest. His defense team has appealed against the arrest.
On October 7, it emerged that Russian investigators had charged Sushchenko with espionage.
Kyiv called the arrest a provocation on trumped-up espionage charges.