President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has said that during his telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin he had managed to reach a consensus on the algorithm for releasing Ukrainian activist Nadezhda Savchenko who was imprisoned in Russia. In addition, Poroshenko said he is ready to send his presidential plane to Russia to transport the defendant.
Earlier today, Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for the Russian president, said the two presidents really “discussed Savchenko’s fate,” but he is not ready to unveil any details of the phone call yet. The leaders discussed also the fate of Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Alexander Alexandrov who were imprisoned in Ukraine. Later, Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, explained that the issues of Savchenko, Alexandrov and Yerofeyev will be settled legally. The Justice Ministry of Ukraine has confirmed that it received a letter from Savchenko with a demand to speed up the process of her release.
As EADaily reported earlier, the Donetsk City Court of Rostov Region (Russia) sentenced Ukrainian pilot, nationalist Nadezhda Savchenko to 22 years in prison on March 22. She was charged with death of people and illegal crossing of the border with Russia. On April 6, Savchenko's lawyer said she launched “dry” hunger strike.
On March 18, the Kiev Court sentenced Alexandrov and Yerofeyev, the Russian military detained in Donbass, to 14 years in prison. Suspected in “plotting and waging aggressive war” and engaging in terrorism, the Russian military were recognized guilty, though they plead not guilty.