Russian court sentences Ukrainian film director to 20 years in jail

Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov looks on from a defendants' box as he attends a court hearing in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, July 21, 2015. REUTERS/Sergey Pivovarov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov to 20 years in a high-security penal colony for "terrorist attacks" in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in April 2014, RIA news agency said.

The Crimea-born Sentsov pleaded not guilty and denounced the trial as politically driven, amid high tensions between Russia and the West over Moscow's role in the crisis in Ukraine.