Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Ukraine’s Poroshenko Hints at Deal with Russia to Swap Pilot Savchenko

 
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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