UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The mother of a Ukrainian helicopter pilot imprisoned in Russia is on a global campaign seeking support from world leaders to pressure President Vladimir Putin to free her daughter.
Nadezhda Savchenko was captured by a pro-Russian militia and has been in Russian custody since June 2014 on charges that she was involved in an attack that killed two Russian journalists who were covering the war between Ukrainian troops and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. At the time of the attack, the 33-year-old pilot was serving with the Aidar volunteer battalion that was fighting alongside government forces near the eastern city of Luhansk.
Maria Savchenko launched her global campaign in Germany, where she pleaded for help from lawmakers and wrote Chancellor Angela Merkel a letter to help “bring Nadiya back home to Ukraine,” using her daughter’s Ukrainian name. New York is her second stop and she will meet Tuesday with U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic.
Mrs. Savchenko said in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday that her daughter is a political prisoner and Russian prosecutors have provided “no evidence” that she provided guidance for a mortar attack that killed two Russian state TV journalists at a checkpoint in eastern Ukraine, as Moscow claims.
Russia’s U.N. Mission, asked to comment on Mrs. Shavchenko’s claims and criticism, said: “She is accused of a serious crime as an accomplice in the killing of two Russian journalists.”