Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has condemned a Russian court's decision to imprison Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko to 20 years in prison on espionage charges.
"The unprecedented cynicism of the Russian 'court' which convicted Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko on the trumped-up charges confirms that the Kremlin regime will spare no effort to break the spirit of Ukrainians," he said on Facebook.
However, he is confident that Russia will "inevitably be punished for its deeds".
"With these 'convictions', the Kremlin displays a panic fear, acknowledges its own aggression against Ukraine and issues a verdict for itself," Poroshenko said.
On 4 June, the Moscow city court has found Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 12 years in a high-security colony, the RIA Novosti news agency has reported.
Sushchenko, a French correspondent of the Ukrinform news agency, was detained in Moscow on 30 September 2016 in violation of international regulations. He arrived in Russia on a private family visit. On 7 October, he was charged with espionage.
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed that Sushchenko was a member of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry and had been collecting confidential information about the Russian Armed Forces and the Russian Guard. The Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate dismissed the allegations.
The journalist did not plead guilty.