Nadiya Savchenko is furious. Even two years in a Russian jail didn’t break her spirit. The Ukrainian strongwoman and opposition lawmaker cocks a snook at President Petro Poroshenko for not heeding demands to get Ukrainian prisoners freed from Russian jails. Ratcheting up her campaign for the release of her countrymen, the imperious Savchenko yesterday launched a hunger strike.
The Russian air force pilot was on a hunger strike for an extended period of time in a Russian jail to demand her release. She landed behind bars after being captured by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, accused of calling in fighter jets to bomb a place where two Russian journalists were killed.
Nadiya, released in a prisoner swap, had become a symbol of the new Cold War that has spawned ties between post-Soviet Russia and the West. She received a tumultuous welcome in her country that was fighting a debilitating Russia-backed insurgency in its east.
She has started a hunger strike to force the Poroshenko government to get 25 Ukrainian prisoners released. It is hard to say what impact the feisty Ukrainian lawmaker’s move will have on the government, but going by her political clout and her anti-Poroshenko stance she can become a cause of con-cern for the president.
Savchenko has been campaigning for getting the prisoners released for some time, but complaints the government hasn’t paid much attention. “I suggested concrete actions to the president of Ukraine — we need to start initiating the handover of people. But the children of Petro Oleksiyovych (Poroshenko) aren’t in captivity, while he spits on your children,” she said, addressing the parents of Ukrainian prisoners.
She called on relatives of those imprisoned in Russia to protest outside government and presidential buildings in Kiev on August 8. Ukraine has become a classical case of a frozen conflict in Russia’s backyard. Probably this was what Russian President Vladimir Putin intended when he occupied Crimea and annexed it, drawing world-wide condemnation, but applause from within Russia. The Maidan protesters in 2014 threw out President Viktor Yanukovich and with it took off the Ukrainian Revolution — an attempt to integrate the former Soviet Republic into the domain of the West. The Kremlin was trying to pull the country into the orbit of Russia and Yanukovich, accused of many corrupt deals, had been courted to do the job.
The gritty Savchenko has ratcheted up pressure on the Poroshenko government to bring back Ukrainian prisoners as part of a swap deal. Her efforts are laudable but one cannot be sure if the government would be able to pull it off with Russia.
Nadiya Savchenko is furious. Even two years in a Russian jail didn’t break her spirit. The Ukrainian strongwoman and opposition lawmaker cocks a snook at President Petro Poroshenko for not heeding demands to get Ukrainian prisoners freed from Russian jails. Ratcheting up her campaign for the release of her countrymen, the imperious Savchenko yesterday launched a hunger strike.
The Russian air force pilot was on a hunger strike for an extended period of time in a Russian jail to demand her release. She landed behind bars after being captured by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, accused of calling in fighter jets to bomb a place where two Russian journalists were killed.
Nadiya, released in a prisoner swap, had become a symbol of the new Cold War that has spawned ties between post-Soviet Russia and the West. She received a tumultuous welcome in her country that was fighting a debilitating Russia-backed insurgency in its east.
She has started a hunger strike to force the Poroshenko government to get 25 Ukrainian prisoners released. It is hard to say what impact the feisty Ukrainian lawmaker’s move will have on the government, but going by her political clout and her anti-Poroshenko stance she can become a cause of con-cern for the president.
Savchenko has been campaigning for getting the prisoners released for some time, but complaints the government hasn’t paid much attention. “I suggested concrete actions to the president of Ukraine — we need to start initiating the handover of people. But the children of Petro Oleksiyovych (Poroshenko) aren’t in captivity, while he spits on your children,” she said, addressing the parents of Ukrainian prisoners.
She called on relatives of those imprisoned in Russia to protest outside government and presidential buildings in Kiev on August 8. Ukraine has become a classical case of a frozen conflict in Russia’s backyard. Probably this was what Russian President Vladimir Putin intended when he occupied Crimea and annexed it, drawing world-wide condemnation, but applause from within Russia. The Maidan protesters in 2014 threw out President Viktor Yanukovich and with it took off the Ukrainian Revolution — an attempt to integrate the former Soviet Republic into the domain of the West. The Kremlin was trying to pull the country into the orbit of Russia and Yanukovich, accused of many corrupt deals, had been courted to do the job.
The gritty Savchenko has ratcheted up pressure on the Poroshenko government to bring back Ukrainian prisoners as part of a swap deal. Her efforts are laudable but one cannot be sure if the government would be able to pull it off with Russia.
