Ukraine demands repatriation of pilot jailed in Russia
VORONEZH, Russia, and KYIV. July 16 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian consul in Moscow on Wednesday demanded the repatriation of Ukrainian pilot Nadiya (Nadezhda) Savchenko, who is in custody in Russia.
"We also insist on a careful investigation into the circumstances under which she ended up on Russian territory. According to our information, she was illegally moved to Russian territory with a sack over her head," Hennadiy Breskalenko told reporters after visiting Savchenko at a jail in Voronezh.
Ukraine also insisted on the punishment of those who allegedly smuggled her into Russia, he said.
"Ukraine will take any necessary action at the level of international organizations for the immediate release and repatriation of Savchenko," Breskalenko said.
He denied allegations by the Russian Investigative Committee that Savchenko arrived in Russia voluntarily and masqueraded as a refugee.
The Ukrainian president's office said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin had briefed President Petro Poroshenko about the consul's meeting with Savchenko.
"Nadiya Savchenko confirmed that she had been evacuated from Ukrainian territory illegally, without her consent, handcuffed and with a sack over her head. The abductors changed several vehicles,"' the statement said, citing Klimkin's report to Poroshenko.
"In protest against her illegal evacuation to another state and demanding a meeting with the consul, the Ukrainian pilot has declared a hunger strike. As she was allowed to see the consul, she ended the hunger strike," the statement said.
"The consul passed words of support from the President to Nadiya," the statement said.
"In his negotiations with world leaders, President Poroshenko constantly insists on the release of all hostages, including Nadiya Savchenko," it said.
Savchenko, 31, fought in eastern Ukraine in the ranks of the Aidar volunteer battalion and in June was taken prisoner by militia forces near the town of Shchastya in Luhansk region.
She resurfaced on July 8 - reports said she was currently in a detention center in Voronezh.
The Russian Investigative Committee claims that she crossed the border into Russia without any identification papers and masquerading as a Ukrainian refugee, and that officials who stopped her in a Russian village for an identity inspection identified her as a suspect in the killing of Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, reporters for Russian radio and television company VGTRK.
The Voronezh Regional Court ordered her to remain in custody until August 30.