Lawyer of Ukrainian journalist of the National News Agency Ukrinform Roman Sushchenko, Mark Feygin, said his client may have been detained to be later convicted and subsequently exchanged for someone else.
“I think it is fair to assume that they want to convict Sushchenko and exchange him for someone who is held in Kyiv,” he said in an interview with the ZN.UA website published on October 5.
Answering the question if Sushchenko is another Ukrainian hostage in the hands of the Russian authorities, Feygin said: “From a political point of view he is.”
The lawyer also said that he doesn’t know who Sushchenko could be swapped for.
“I do not know which Russian citizens are held in Ukrainian prisons as accused or convicts and if there are intelligence officers among these people. But if there are any and Russia knows it, he could probably be exchanged for such people. I am basing my judgments only on previous Russian practice. There was Savchenko’s exchange. Why should not there be another exchange?” Feygin said.
As reported, the FSB detained Sushchenko on spying charges in Moscow, and the Lefortovsky District Court sanctioned Sushchenko’s arrest for two months on October 1.
Kyiv has qualified Sushchenko’s detention as provocation and said the spying charges are absurd.
