Savchenko ready to act as surety for Officers' Corps chief Ruban arrested on suspicion of terror plot in Ukraine
KYIV. March 15 (Interfax) - The situation around the head of the Officers' Corps prisoner-release center, Volodymyr Ruban, has exposed the antagonism between Ukraine's security services, the independent parliamentarian Nadiya Savchenko said, adding that she was ready to act as surety for Ruban.
"I respect Volodymyr Ruban for the work he did on the front, to get prisoners released, to help Ukraine's Armed Forces, Security Service, and all intelligence services," Savchenko told reporters in Kyiv on Thursday.
It is regretful that there is "a war among intelligence services" in Ukraine, she said.
"In reality, what is happening is the country's drainage from within," Savchenko said.
To conduct "deep operations behind enemy lines, you often have to use enemy weapons not to get caught and not to betray yourself," she said.
"Some sections, forces and structures are eager to fulfill their mission for Ukraine and in favor of Ukraine, others are impeding them," Savchenko said.
That there are unsolved crimes means "people have come close to the truth, they know via which border and goat's paths the contraband goes, and who is covering that up," she said.
"I have never in my life disowned my [people] and never betrayed them, neither in Russian jail, nor in Ukraine. I will be surety for Volodymyr Ruban," Savchenko said.
Savchenko said that the statement by Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko that she could be prosecuted and stripped of immunity amounted to intimidation. "I am not one of their breed. I am still that real thing that remains in politics, which is why I did come for questioning," Savchenko said.
It was reported that on March 15 she was summoned by the Security Service for questioning in the Ruban inquiry.
A day earlier Lutsenko said that if Savchenko failed to show up, he would have to ask parliament to strip her of immunity to enable her criminal prosecution and arrest.
The SSU said it had summoned Savchenko for questioning in connection with the Ruban case for March 13 and 15, the summonses were sent to Verkhovna Rada on March 12.
In a letter to SSU chief Vasyl Hrytsak on March 13 Savchenko denied receiving any summons but promised to show up for questioning if notified in person.
She also said that since March 12 she had been "on a planned working trip to the European Parliament in Strasbourg."
Ruban was caught at a checkpoint in Donbas on March 8 trying to smuggle an arsenal of weapons from Ukraine into the breakaway territory.
He is suspected of plotting a terrorist attack, and the possession, acquisition, manufacture, repair, transfer or disposal of a firearm, ammunition, explosive substances or explosive devices without the permission required by law.
On March 9 the Shevchenkovskyi district court in Kyiv remanded him in custody for two months.