The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has demanded that Ukrainian journalist Roman Suschenko, who has been charged in Russia with espionage, be freed and called the criminal case against him politically motivated.

"We once again stress that the case is politically motivated and demand that journalist Suschenko, a hostage to Russia's aggression, be freed," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mariana Betsa wrote on Twitter on Monday.

Suschenko's defense lawyer Mark Feygin told Interfax the Moscow City Court will announce a sentence in early June.

Prosecutors said in court that they believe the defendant's guilt has been proven and asked that he be sentenced to 14 years in a penal colony. The defense argued that Suschenko was an innocent victim of a provocation.