Reuters, 19/04 16:04 CET
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Petro
Poroshenko said on Tuesday he and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had
agreed a framework for a deal to secure the release of Ukrainian pilot
Nadezhda Savchenko from a 22-year jail sentence in Russia.
The sentencing of two captured Russian servicemen in
Ukraine on Monday fuelled speculation that they might be swapped for
Savchenko, 34, who was found guilty of involvement in the killing of two
Russian journalists in 2014 during Ukraine’s separatist conflict. She
has denied any involvement.
“Yesterday I initiated a conversation with Putin and
based on preliminary preparations it seems to me we have managed to
agree on a certain algorithm to free Nadezhda,” Poroshenko told
journalists.
The sentencing of the Russian soldiers “opens certain
possibilities of initiating a swap. But I strongly urge no
speculation
about a timeframe for (her) return or future steps.”
In her homeland, Savchenko is a regarded as a national
hero and symbol of resistance to Russia, which annexed Ukraine’s
Crimean peninsula in March 2014 after a Moscow-backed president was
toppled during street protests in Kiev. Russia has also backed
separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.
But many in Russia see her as a Ukrainian nationalist with the blood of civilians on her hands.
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Source: Euronews
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