For Savchenko

On March 9, stocks were held in the world in support of the sentencing in Russia Nadezhda Savchenko

Wednesday, March 9, in many countries of the world, was declared the day of support for the Ukrainian military, the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Nadezhda Savchenko, who has been in prison in Russia on charges of murder of journalists. The international action Global Day #freesavchenko is organized by Ukrainian defenders and is held for the third time.

According to the organizers of the action, it is designed to remind the society of the case of Nadezhda Savchenko. Participants in the events go to the streets demanding the Russian authorities - to free the Ukrainian soldier, who has been holding a dry hunger strike for the sixth day.

In Ukraine, promotions with a similar requirement have been lasting the fourth day, in particular, people go out into the streets in Zaporozhye, Kharkov, Odessa, Lviv and Kyiv.

In Kyiv on March 8, under the anthem of Ukraine, the convoy of demonstrators went along the airflot Avenue from the Ministry of Defense to the Russian embassy, chanting: "Nadezhda - freedom!". For several days, the embassy has been picked up by Kievans, deputies of the Ukrainian parliament, activists of public organizations. The number of picketers is from several tens to several hundred. At the fencing of the diplomatic, posters with the inscriptions are placed: “Freedom of the daughter of Ukraine - Nadezhda!”, “Hope - live!”.

Hope is ready to sacrifice her freedom and life for Ukraine

“The result that has been achieved today is that stocks are held around the world in support of Savchenko,” says Irina Lutsenko, deputy of the Verkhovna Rada. - Today, the whole civilized world, the entire democratic community is concentrated on one thing: Nadezhda Savchenko needs to be released, since the trial of it is illegitimen, the accusations that were brought to her are illegal. We forced the international community to raise the situation with the Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia to the highest level. We try not to let the international community forget that our warriors die in the east of the country, protecting European values, protecting democratic values. Hope is ready to sacrifice her freedom and life for the sake of Ukraine. In order for Ukraine to take a worthy place in the European society of free peoples. Our goal has not yet been reached to the end, since Nadia is not free, Putin has not yet withdrawn his troops from the Donbass, but every day, every small action, every small victory brings us closer to this moment, says Irina Lutsenko.

Promotions in support of Nadezhda Savchenko took place on March 9 and the day before around the world: in Australia, USA, Georgia, Greece, Sweden, Estonia and other countries:

Canberra

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Vilnius

Rally in Support of Nadiya Savchenko in Front of Russian Embassy in Vilnius #freesavchenko pic.twitter.com/y4zhpazwhx

- Tomas Kazulenas (@kazulenas_tomas) 9 March 2016

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Tbilisi

Ukrainian and European parliamentarians are also trying to influence the Russian authorities in connection with the case of Nadezhda Savchenko. As expected, next week in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, a number of parliamentarians, in particular, Oksana Korchinskaya from the Radical Party and Olga Chervakova from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc intend to register a draft decree on the breakdown of diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation. According to MP Korchinskaya, the leader of the nationalist party "Brotherhood" by Dmitry Korchinsky, who informed this news on Facebook , if he supported this initiative, then such a step will be a "response to the torture of Moscow Savchenko."

On March 9, deputies of the European Parliament called on the European Union to impose personal sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and another 28 people involved, in their opinion, to illegal actions against Nadezhda Savchenko. They sent the corresponding appeal to the Supreme EU representative on foreign policy Federica Morgerini.

"We, members of the European Parliament, are convinced that the EU without further delay should respond to the ongoing shameful and egregious violations by Russia of international legislation and Minsk agreements," the European Parliament says.

57 deputies who signed this appeal requires personal sanctions against 29 Russian citizens, including President Vladimir Putin, the head of the FSB Alexander Bortnikov and the head of the IC of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin. According to the deputies of the European Parliament, they are responsible for the "political decision" to kidnap Savchenko, bring it to Russia and fabricate a criminal case against it. Parliamentarians are also asked to extend sanctions to investigators, prosecutors and judges who, according to deputies, responsible for the factory of the materials of the Savchenko case, for her "illegal detention", the arrest and income against her of the murder and illegal crossing of the border.

In addition, the deputies included in the "sanctions list" the leader of the self -proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic Igor Plotnitsky and the head of the Voronezh pre -trial detention center Nikolai Makarov, in particular, for the fact that he forbade the Ukrainian soldier of the book under the pretext of violation of the "internal rules" of the pre -trial detention center. Savchenko was in the Voronezh Isolater the first months of imprisonment in Russia.

When such a large country becomes an outcast and the leader of a large country becomes an outcast, it cannot continue for a long time

Parliamentarians are asked to limit people included in the list, entry into the EU countries, block access to their bank accounts and confiscate property if they have one in the EU.

Press Secretary of Vladimir Putin Dmitry Peskov called unacceptable the call of the Eurodegapers to impose sanctions against the President of Russia because of the case of Nadezhda Savchenko. The vice speaker of the Russian State Duma, Sergei Zheleznyak, called this initiative “odious” and “provocative”, noting that such proposals “bogged down in the anti-Russian rhetoric of“ deputies ”, for all their unrealism, do not contribute to building a thoughtful dialogue necessary for solving important international problems.”

Former deputy of the Russian State Duma, former secretary of the Union of Journalists of Russia, Igor Yakovenko, believes that if such sanctions are imposed, the status of Russia and Vladimir Putin will "change very much":

- It is difficult to comment on the probability of taking these sanctions, because there are 751 deputy in the European Parliament. Although, in general, representatives of five of the eight fractions made such a proposal, and this is talking about something. But it is clear that the majority will decide everything. But if a positive decision is made, this will, of course, be a fundamentally different situation, Putin's status, Russia's status will change very much. When such a large country becomes an outcast and the leader of a large country becomes an outcast, it cannot continue for a long time. I believe this will change the situation very strong for Putin personally, and for his environment, and for the country as a whole.

- Peskov says that taking sanctions against Putin is an unacceptable offer. Do you think that sanctions against the first person of the state can really be imposed?

Berlusconi was 7-8 years old under sanctions. Yes, Putin, of course, is not Berlusconi, and his surname is different, and the country is different, but why not?

- Why not? Berlusconi was 7-8 years old under sanctions, from 2006 to 2015. Yes, Putin, of course, is not Berlusconi, and his surname is different, and the country is different, but why not? I think that there is no prohibition, physical and legal, for this. The main problem is that Putin and his environment were always convinced that cynicism in international relations is total. It is certainly present, but not total. There is a limit that has completely different norms and other laws, and Putin has crossed this limit, crossed some permissible opportunities, after which completely different rules of the game begin. And now they are starting now.

- How do you generally evaluate this list that the deputies made up?

- I have not seen the whole list, I saw about half. I think he is quite adequate. And of course, it is right that the deputies of the European Parliament did not begin to hypocrite and began at the first person. Because it is quite obvious that there is not any court, in fact, that the issue is solved exclusively by the first person, it was an absolutely political decision. Everything that is happening at the moment in the Rostov region has nothing to do with justice. This is a political reprisal. So here everything is certainly right.

-Will this initiative somehow affect the situation with Nadezhda Savchenko? What will happen to her?

- This is a completely unpredictable story, because the situation with Nadezhda Savchenko will certainly affect so much how much she can hold out. Nadezhda Savchenko simply sacrifices his life, in front of everyone is ready to die, this is obvious. And what forces can be involved in order to convince her now not to do this, I do not know. The fact that Putin will not free her immediately is also obvious, because ... we know this person. So the only question is how Ukraine, the world community will be able to persuade Savchenko to abandon the hunger strike. Or torture will be applied to it, because forced feeding is qualified as torture. In this case, the situation will become even harder, ”concludes Igor Yakovenko.

The deputy of the Russian State Duma Dmitry Gudkov admits that the sanctions will not be introduced directly against the President of Russia in the near future, although they may extend to his environment. At the same time, the deputy fears that such an initiative of European parliamentarians can, on the contrary, harm Nadezhda Savchenko:

- I perceive this as such a clear signal to the Russian leadership that the Savchenko case will be perceived very seriously and even more serious than the Magnitsky matter. That if, God forbid, something will happen to Savchenko, it is quite obvious that new serious sanctions will be imposed on Russian officials and Russian enterprises. While I exclude sanctions against first persons. Most likely, these will be sanctions regarding Putin’s environment and, possibly, in relation to some state-owned companies. But the signal, it seems to me, is quite clear and tough. I don’t know how our leadership will react to it. It is quite obvious that this case does not paint and disgrace our country, our judicial system, threatens sanctions, and these sanctions, of course, will affect the welfare of citizens in the literal sense. If not immediately, then in the long run all this will affect prices, the quality of goods, the quality of roads, the clinic, the availability of drugs, and so on.

-But does Savchenko help, will her work somehow decide?

Our president does not make decisions under public pressure. And in this case, a certain pressure of the public is created. I do not exclude that this can give a reverse reaction

- I will not give any assessments, and I will explain why. As you know, our president does not make decisions under the pressure of the public. And in this case, a certain pressure of the public is created. In this situation, I do not exclude that this can give a reverse reaction. It is clear that European politicians cannot behave otherwise. I do not understand the stubbornness of the Russian authorities, why they have not been exchanged for Russian prisoners of war for a long time, especially since we know a few high -profile stories when Russian troops were captured. A good idea was proposed by many social activists - to exchange everyone for all, all Russian prisoners of war in Ukrainian.

- Today, in the Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova said that Savchenko’s negotiations were not conducted and were not underway. Is this also a reluctance to act under the pressure of the public or is there something else here?

-Firstly, this is a reluctance to recognize your own mistakes. If there is a reason for negotiations, then there is an occasion to doubt the correctness of the actions of individual officials. And secondly, there is also a total distrust between the Russian and Ukrainian sides. That is, roughly speaking, someone will fulfill the terms of agreements, but someone will not fulfill. Six months ago, I talked about the fact that if you do not trust each other, well, use at least the deputy Gudkov as an intermediary in these negotiations or any other, a compromise, which both parties could relate with certain confidence. I think that in the Russian and Ukrainian establishment there are figures that could sit down at the negotiating table and agree on something, and give each other guarantees that the agreements will be completed. It seems to me that the problem is.

-From your point of view, is it possible to expect any decision on Savchenko at the political level in the near future?

- As I understand it, Savchenko announced a dry hunger strike, and this is very dangerous. I don’t know if she has time to wait until the 21st before the sentence. It is necessary to take some emergency measures. Questions must be asked to our authorities. Are they ready to fight further with the whole world? So, you can not listen to the opinion of European parliamentarians. And if, nevertheless, the fate of the country and their own fate care about them, then we must look for some ways to get out of this situation. I admit that you can find some way out of the situation by retaining a face from the point of view of Russian propaganda. For example, at least, exchange for prisoners of war. And public opinion can understand this. It’s probably impossible to give out under pressure today for the current government, because you need to somehow explain the audience. Like us, so strong and formidable, and everyone is afraid of us, and suddenly we, under the pressure of some European parliamentarians, issued Savchenko-this, probably, will not swallow public opinion. And the exchange of some for others is a completely permissible option. There will be enough statements that they are ready to exchange, and that’s all - after that the hunger strike ceases.

- And you yourself personally, what do you think, how will all this be resolved?

- I am not very optimistic. If common sense triumphed in Russia, probably, there would be no such incomprehensible foreign policy and adventures. I think that people inadequately assess the situation in the economy and foreign policy, and overestimate their strengths. Although, of course, the margin of strength is high, without a doubt, ”concludes Dmitry Gudkov.

On March 9, Nadezhda Savchenko, who has been holding a dry hunger strike for the sixth day, made the last word in the Donetsk city court . In her speech, she stated that she would stop a hunger strike if the sentence is scheduled for a week. The court appointed the announcement on March 21 and 22. The representative of the state prosecution earlier asked for the Ukrainian soldiers 23 years in prison. The next international action in support of Nadezhda Savchenko is scheduled for the sentencing days.