Sources suggest Savchenko will be returned to Ukraine in the coming weeks
Nadiya Savchenko, who was recently sentenced to 22 years imprisonment in Russia, will be returned to Ukraine in the coming weeks, as reported by Grani, citing a closed-door meeting held by the Ambassador of Russia to Ukraine, Mikhail Zurabov. Zurabov didn’t specify whether the release would be an exchange of Savchenko for arrested Russians.
According to a spokesperson for Grani, who attended the meeting, Zurabov noted that Russia was ready to return Savchenko to her homeland by the 8th of March. However, Moscow has changed its mind on this issue after the attack on the Russian Embassy in Kiev. Following these events, the Donetsk City Court postponed the hearing on the case of the Ukrainian pilot. In turn, Nadiya Savchenko declared a hunger strike in protest against the postponement.
On Wednesday, Savchenko’s lawyer, Mark Feygin, who visited her in the detention facility in Novocherkassk, reported that she has forbidden her lawyers to appeal the sentence or file a mercy petition.
“I forbid you to appeal the sentence or file a mercy petition, admit guilt on my or your behalf and take any actions without my permission. If my will is violated, I will consider it a betrayal and will automatically recuse you as my lawyer,” Savchenko said in her statement, addressed to Mark Feygin and two other legal representatives, Nikolai Polozov and Ilya Novikov.
On Wednesday night, the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, and the Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, spoke via telephone to discuss the prompt return of Savchenko to Ukraine, the press service of the head of Ukrainian state reported. They have firmly condemned the sentencing of Nadiya Savchenko by the Russian court.
Biden assured that the United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, will express Washington’s official position that Savchenko be immediately released, during his upcoming meeting with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow.
The Vice President of the United States also noted that the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, was touched by the request of the spouse of the President of Ukraine, Maryna Poroshenko, for her to join the campaign on the release of Nadiya Savchenko.
Meanwhile, the Press Spokesman for the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov, stated on Wednesday that he was unaware of any decision by Vladimir Putin concerning Savchenko’s destiny. “Russia will be guided by its legislation. The decisions on extradition, non-extradition and exchange, including Savchenko, can be taken only by the President of Russia, Peskov repeated. In this case, I’m not aware of any decisions concerning this issue, which have been taken by the President,” Peskov said.
Peskov had stated earlier that Russia will act in strict accordance with the law when considering the possibility of an exchange for Savchenko. “The decision can be made only by the President. I can’t tell you which one he will make,” the Press Spokesman said. On Tuesday, the Panel of the Donetsk City Court in Rostov sentenced Savchenko to a 22-year prison term.
The lawyer Nikolai Polozov stated that Savchenko intends to resume her dry hunger strike after the verdict comes into legal force. “Savchenko believes that it isn’t fair and she can’t influence Russian authority only in this way. She didn’t declare the hunger strike until after the verdict came into legal force – 10 days after,” the lawyer said.
In his statement on the decision of the Donetsk City Court, Poroshenko stated that Ukraine will never recognize neither this trial nor its so-called verdict, which demonstrates the return of Russian justice as it was under Stalin-Vyshinsky.
The head of the State noted the need to impose sanctions against all involved in the prosecution of Savchenko and other Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia. At the same time, he expressed readiness to exchange members of the Special Forces of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate, Captain Evgeny Erofeev and Sergeant Alexander Alexandrov for Savchenko. The judicial process on their cases is coming to an end in Kiev, immediately after the sentencing of the accused will take place.
John Kerry, the Ambassadors of the G-7, the European Commission, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini and other Western politicians have called on Russia to release Savchenko. They have expressed concern about the heath condition of the accused and stressed that the decision on her release be in line with the Minsk Agreements.