MOSCOW (AP) – A Russian court on Tuesday began hearing the high-profile case against a Ukrainian officer who is charged in the deaths of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine.
Nadezhda Savchenko denied the charges, telling the court “I am a soldier, not a murderer,” the Tass news agency reported.
Russian investigators allege that Savchenko, who served in a volunteer battalion fighting with government troops against Russia-backed rebels, provided the coordinates for a mortar attack that killed the journalists in June 2014.
Savchenko, who lawyers say was captured by the rebels and smuggled across the border into Russia, also is charged with entering Russia illegally.
Charges of attempted murder in relation to six Ukrainian citizens were also added to the case.