Kyiv demands urgent release of journalist Sushchenko

Ministry spokeswoman Mariana Betsa said his arrest is based on trumped-up charges. “The Russian judicial branch strongly refuses to change the preventive measure [in Sushchenko's case] from custodial detention, which indicates political bias and continuation of the psychological pressure on the Ukrainian citizen," Betsa said in a commentary to Interfax-Ukraine agency on Wednesday when the Lefortovo district court in Moscow extended Ukrainian reporter's detetion by three months to late April. Suschenko denies the charges of espionage and says he was visiting his family when he was arrested in Moscow September 30th.