REUTERS

Finland's Foreign Minister Timo Soini has urged Russia to provide illegally convicted Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov, who has been on hunger strike in a Russian penal colony since May 14, 2018, with medical treatment.

Read alsoOver 100 Western filmmakers call on Russia to free Sentsov

"Health of Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov in prison is deteriorating rapidly. We expect Russia to provide him with medical treatment and to release all illegally detained Ukrainian citizens," the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland wrote on Twitter on Monday with reference to the minister.

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UNIAN memo. Sentsov was arrested in Russian-occupied Crimea in spring 2014 and in August 2015 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison following an unfair trial where he faced "terrorism" charges stemming from his opposition to Russia's occupation of Crimea. He has been serving his term in a penal colony in the town of Labytnangi, Russia's Yamal. Sentsov began his hunger strike on May 14, 2018, in protest against the politically motivated jailing of dozens of Ukrainians in the Russian Federation.