Obama called on Putin to release Savchenko

US President Barack Obama called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to release Ukrainian serviceman Nadezhda Savchenko, who is on trial in Russia on charges of murdering VGTRK journalists near Lugansk. this Slon.ru reports with reference to Interfax.

“US President Barack Obama called on his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to release detained pilot and parliamentarian Nadezhda Savchenko in accordance with the provisions of the Minsk agreements on the need to release all illegally detained persons,” said Will Stevens, a spokesman for the US Embassy in Moscow.

According to Stevens, this happened during a telephone conversation between the presidents of Russia and the United States.

On March 21 and 22, the Donetsk City Court of the Rostov Region will announce the verdict of Nadezhda Savchenko, accused of murdering VGTRK journalists Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, who died during shelling near Lugansk in the summer of 2014. The prosecutor's office requested 23 years in prison for Savchenko.

Savchenko and her lawyers maintain her innocence. She has been on a hunger strike since mid-December 2015. On March 3, when the debate on her case ended, Savchenko began a dry hunger strike: on the same day she was supposed to give her last word, but the court postponed her speech to March 9.

On March 10, Savchenko’s lawyers reported that she had stopped her dry hunger strike after receiving a letter from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Later, Poroshenko's press secretary stated that the President of Ukraine did not write letters to Savchenko. Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus said that they forged the letter.