Declaration of hope

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko will seek the return of all political prisoners to their homeland, illegally held in Russia and in the occupied territories. The head of state announced this at a joint press conference with Nadezhda Savchenko, Ligabusinessinfo reports .

“It is very pleasant that now Nadezhda joins us. I would like to emphasize that these steps would be impossible without Minsk agreements, where the responsibilities of the Russian Federation are clearly indicated to free all the hostages,” Poroshenko said. “This is only the beginning, because we are waiting for the return of Afanasyev, Sentsov, Kolchenko, many and many Ukrainians who are in Russia and in the occupied territories.” The president emphasized that Savchenko would join the struggle for the liberation of Ukrainians.

The President said that Ukraine will seek the return of the territories illegally rejected from it. “How we returned hope, so we will return the Donbass, so we will return Crimea to Ukrainian sovereignty,” Poroshenko said.

Poroshenko handed Savchenko the Order of the "Golden Star" of the Hero of Ukraine. He appropriated this title on March 2, 2015 "for the invincibility of will, civil courage, sacrificial service to the Ukrainian people."

Savchenko called on the Russians to get up from his knees. “I want to tell you ... First of all, to convey greetings to the Russians and say that there is nothing to be afraid of, you have to get up from the knees. I understand that it is not the country in which it is easy to get up from the knees, but if they want to live as much as we, they need to get up from the knees, and we need to not let them come here,” she said.

Savchenko said she was ready to give her life for Ukraine. "I am always ready to put my life on the battlefield for Ukraine again. I will do everything possible so that every person who is sitting now in captivity is at large. The heroes of Ukraine should not die. It is very profitable when the heroes are dead, it’s bad when they are alive. We will live, and the heroes will be in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. They will be in the WP of Ukraine, the heroes will be for the envy of the Russian Duma, and they will be in gratitude to Ukrainian, in gratitude to Ukrainian. We will have a boss from those people who will live in Ukraine as worthy, I do not know how to do it, I will not tell you that it will be ready to die every second. - said Savchenko.

On Wednesday, the presidential plane delivered Savchenko from Rostov-on-Don to his homeland . Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on its pardon. Putin noted that the relatives of the VGTRK employees who died in the Donbass asked him such a request. On fabricated charges of their murder, Savchenko was convicted in Russia by 22 years in prison.

At the same time, Poroshenko signed a decree on the pardon of convicts in Ukraine of the GRU special forces Evgeny Erofeev and Alexander Alexandrov. They were freed and delivered by an airplane to the Moscow Airport Vnukovo. Russian officials were not present at the airport. Erofeev and Alexandrov were only met by their wives. The airport was allowed to shoot only the Prochrevsky media, and none of the journalists could ask the released questions.