Sasha + Zhenya = Nadezhda

Nadezhda Savchenko flies to his homeland, May 25, 2016

On May 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin pardoned Nadezhda Savchenko. Not asking for mercy, which did not admit guilt and openly mocked over Russian justice, the Ukrainian pilot went on board the presidential airliner sent for her to Rostov-on-Don and left for her homeland. At the Kiev airport, Borispol was met by a jubilant crowd: journalists, politicians, ordinary citizens of Ukraine.

The lawyer of the Ukrainian pilot Ilya Novikov says: Savchenko, hearing on the eve of the upcoming several hours of release, reacted very calmly. From the pre-trial detention center of Novocherkassk, on the night of May 24 to 25, she was delivered to Rostov-on-Don airport. Novikov himself arrived there with papers confirming the payment of a fine imposed by the court, to which the decree on pardon signed by Putin did not apply.

About an hour before Savchenko was delivered to Rostov’s airport, at the Glavukovo government terminal 3, a small aircraft of the AN-148 special detachment landed, on board which two soldiers of the Self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR)-Evgeny Erofeev and Alexander Alexandrov arrived from Kyiv to their homeland. These Russians, captured by the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine a little over a year ago in the east of Ukraine and testified that they were at the time of captivity by the current military personnel of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, on the eve of May 24, pardoned the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. At the ramp, they were greeted by joyful wives. From afar, the hugs of reunited married couples were recorded by the crew of state television channels. “At the entrance to the Vnukovo Special Terminal stood two guards with a list of those who are allowed to enter,” says Pavel Kanygin correspondent, a Novaya Gazeta correspondent. - Journalists of the four admitted television channels - the first, NTV, VGTRK and RT warned about the event early in the morning. However, besides me, the employees of the Radio "Freedom" and the Life channel, there was nobody there. No jubilant crowds, no support groups, no activists of patriotic movements, no representatives of the LPR. ”

Deception and exchange

Nadezhda Savchenko was captured by the LPR militias on June 17, 2014 near Lugansk next to the death site of the VGTRK journalists Anton Voloshin and Igor Korneluk. At that time, she fought as a volunteer in the Aidar battalion and, according to her, was engaged in the evacuation of the wounded. According to Russian investigators, that day she deliberately brought the fire of artillery to the television group, for which, being already wounded in the hand, she climbed onto the tower of the mobile communications relay. Soon after the detention, she was allegedly released by order of the commander of the battalion "Zarya" Igor Plotnitsky. Instead of making his way to her, the pilot illegally crossed the border with Russia, where she fell into the hands of the Chekists and appeared before the court of the city of Donetsk, Rostov Region, who sentenced her to 22 years in prison. Savchenko herself claims that she was exported by force to Russia, where they tried to persuade her to self -breeding, and then criminally condemned. The defense of hope provided a lot of evidence indicating that she could not physically commit the crimes of which she was accused, but the court refused to consider them. Savchenko repeatedly announced hunger strikes, including dry ones, sang on the bench of the defendants of Ukraine and showed the judges indecent gestures. During his stay in the pre -trial detention center, she was elected as a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, became a member of the permanent Ukrainian delegation in PACA, and also received the title of Hero of Ukraine (see NT No. 10 of March 28, 2016).

The captain (retired) Evgeny Erofeev and the sergeant (retired) Alexander Alexandrov were detained in the Luhansk region in May last year during the battle, during which soldier of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces received a mortal wound. They both immediately called the Russian military. After capture, they were operated on by Ukrainian doctors - Alexandrov was wounded in the thigh, and Erofeev - in the shoulder. The day after the captivity of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, they said that both of them are retired, and to the territory of Ukraine went to the Russian world to defend the Russian world (see NT No. 17 of May 25, 2015). In Ukraine, however, they were considered "GRU fighters." And in April 2016, they found guilty in the Kiev court in conducting terrorist activities and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

The wives, Moscow, May 25, 2016 met in Vnukovo and Erofeev.

The idea to exchange Savchenko for Erofeev and Alexandrov was repeatedly voiced by representatives of both parties. International organizations joined the negotiations on the release of the pilot. This was asked by Putin by the heads of various states, including the USA, France and Germany.

“Negotiations on exchange were conducted at the presidents,” said NT Oksana Sokolovskaya, Erofeeva’s lawyer. - The final agreement was reached the day before, May 24. Recently, Erofeev was waiting for returning home and counting on an imminent exchange. For this, the sentence had to enter into legal force. "

But the entry into force of the sentence - and this happened on May 23 - was not enough. A separate conflict has become another condition - a petition for pardon. Nadezhda Savchenko refused to give him to Putin. As the widow of Kornelyuk and Voloshin’s sister) himself explained to the television cameras (accepting the widow of Kornelyuk and sister), the Russian president himself, with a corresponding request to him some time ago, were treated by relatives of the dead journalists.

From afar, the hugs of reunited married couples were recorded by the crew of state television channels

In Kyiv, according to Valentin Rybin, Aleksandrov’s lawyer, the question of pardon was resolved “completely mirror”. Fortunately, the President of Ukraine, the lawyer said, "expanded the circle of persons who may submit the relevant petitions by his decree." However, to the question NT, who exactly petitioned Erofeev and Alexandrov, Rybin refused to answer: "We do not disclose this information."

One way or another, NT sources in both Moscow and Kyiv pay attention to the fact that the lawyers Erofeev and Alexandrov set for themselves “short terms to solve all problems”. Pavel Kanygin, a correspondent of Novaya Gazeta, who described the trial of Alexandrov and Erofeev in detail, is convinced that real customers who paid for the work of the defenders of two Russians were not relatives of the accused, as officially declared this, but the Russian embassy. “Both Rybin, and Sokolovskaya and the deceased Yuri Grabovsky (one of the lawyers of Alexandrov, killed in March 2016. - NT) were in obvious relations with the Russian side, talked with the consul during the process of the process and after the meetings,” Kanygin recalls. - I have data that they were paid very well. No wonder one of the main versions of the murder of Grabovsky is precisely the robbery. ”

Presidential act

The first time for the exchange of Savchenko for Aleksandrov and Erofeev, as well as the fact of the impending transaction, was indicated in a telephone conversation with hope in the presence of her mother and sister President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko - the conversation took place on April 19, the day after the verdict of the sentence to the two Russians in the Goloseevsky District Court of Kyiv. “Poroshenko then said: it was not long to wait, the exchange will take place immediately after the sentenger came into force to the Russians, but no one believed him,” recalls Ilya Novikov, a lawyer of Nadezhda Savchenko in a conversation with NT. “Today, the words, especially spoken by politicians, have been so depreciated that no one has taken them seriously.”

Well, then around the issue of exchange, Novikov believes, a lot of extraneous noise arose: “Constant statements that everything has broken, stuffing information about the transfer of terms, conflicting information about the filing of appeals and petitions about pardon ... This whole round dance of information reasons had nothing to do with reality.”

Savchenko in captivity, June 19, 2014

Meanwhile, Poroshenko had very difficult tasks: not only to agree with Putin, but also to convince Savchenko, exhausted by unfulfilled promises of liberation, to stop the next hunger strike. “All further actions (Poroshenko) were probably caused by the desire to be safe,” Novikov continues. - Because, as I understand it, Putin, in principle, was warned by the very thought of pardoning Savchenko. And if Nadezhda refused to write a petition, this is generally unthinkable. To let go of a non-conquered, not broken person is not in Patsan. ”

Novikov is sure: it was taking into account these circumstances that they began to prepare a spare option to fulfill the agreements, which consisted in the transfer of convicts for serving a sentence in their country. Moreover, on the condition that each party can submit information about this as it considers necessary. As a result, Aleksandrov and Erofeev did not dispute the verdict, he entered into force - and the next day, Poroshenko signed a decree on pardon.

“I don’t know how it sounded in French and German, but I think that Putin was told that he stopped showing off and urgently signed a similar document,” Novikov suggested, referring to the night on the eve of the negotiations of the leaders of the “Norman four”, during which the theme of the liberation of Savchenko, as indicated by NT sources, was the main one. The conversation went at night for a reason - they obviously decided to connect the Americans, the leveling difference between the two hemispheres gave such an opportunity.

However, Novikov draws attention to another detail: Putin, it turns out, was not required to make a decision on Savchenko any specific procedure, because it was not prescribed by Russian legislation: “So that the president would make such a decision (about pardon. - NT), no confession, nor appeal to the head of state, nor bow to his feet.” The lawyer is convinced: During the night conversation, Merkel, Hollande and Poroshenko "actually twisted his hands."

Nonnyovka

In Russia, immediately after the exchange of Savchenko, for two Russians, federal media and pro -government bloggers burst out by the next panegyrics to Vladimir Putin and Russian diplomats who managed to return “our guys” to their homeland. “But more than a year before that, their fate was practically not interested in anyone,” Ilya Novikov notes.

“We are now not the Great Patriotic War, when, by order of Stalin, all those who were captured were considered enemies of the people. I do not blame these guys. I don't know how they could reveal the military secret "

Separate issues were raised by Putin's meeting with relatives of the dead journalists of the VGTRK. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, reporting Putin’s meeting with Marianna Voloshina and Ekaterina Korneluk, said that they showed exceptional humanity, asked the head of state to pardon Savchenko. And further: Putin thanked Voloshin and Korneluk for their position and expressed the hope that "such decisions, dictated primarily by considerations of humanism, will lead to a decrease in the confrontation in the well -known zone of conflict and help to avoid such terrible and not necessary losses." At the same time, Peskov added that two months before, the relatives of the dead journalists met with the leader of the Ukrainian Choice public movement Viktor Medvedchuk and even then spoke for the first time for the liberation of the pilot.

A little later, the construction of Peskov, probably without desire, was refuted by the father of the deceased journalist Igor Korneluk Vladimir Korneluk. On the air of the NTV program “The Place of Meeting”, he told the presenter Andrei Norkin: “We consulted and decided that we had to support the country's leadership, and decided that we were giving good to this matter.” From these words it follows that the families of the victims were asked to make an initiative to pardon Savchenko from the side. Or - from above. But in any case, the initiative did not come from families.

To each his own

What can now wait for all three - Savchenko, Erofeev and Aleksandrov - at home?

Nadezhda Savchenko, the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, according to Ilya Novikov, told him about plans to work both in the Ukrainian parliament and in PACE, to prepare a bill in the jury, and most importantly, to promote the rescue of the rest of the Ukrainians who are in Russian places of imprisonment. The defender did not tell the defender about any ambitions in her country, but on May 27, at a personal press conference in Kyiv, she said that she was ready, if necessary, to become the president of Ukraine.

“She has a huge moral capital today,” says Novikov. - How to dispose of them, perhaps, she does not know either herself. I hope that she will be able to influence the procedure for the exchange of all other prisoners. ” Novikov also states that he never heard from Savchenko about the total hatred of all Russians or Russian people.

The question of the future fate of two Russians looks more complicated.

“Aleksandrov and Erofeev-citizens of Russia who were not at the time of captivity, according to official information, by Russian military personnel,” the former deputy commander of the group “A” (“Alpha”) of the KGB-FSB, Colonel in retired, Sergei Goncharov, expressed his position. - Now they can do their own personal affairs. They have not been with their family for a year. Then they will solve the issues of work. No one is going to bring them to any responsibility, punish or pursue. And the question is whether the special forces should give up to the enemy, is decided during each specific combat operation. We are now not the Great Patriotic War, when, by order of Stalin, all those who were captured were considered enemies of the people. ”

Erofeev and Aleksandrov at the hearing in Kyiv, April 5, 2016

Goncharov himself “these guys” does not blame and does not know what kind of military secret they could reveal: “Nothing was said about this.”

However, the sources of the magazine in law enforcement agencies, who agreed to talk only on the terms of anonymity, unlike Goncharov, did not unambiguously say that “everything would be written off” from Alexandrov and Erofeev. “Recently, the commander gathered us and gave a lecture on valor and courage, as well as on shame and betrayal,” an officer of Russian special forces told NT on the condition of anonymity. - As an example, he cited the Hero of Russia Alexander Prokhorenko, who died in Syria - when he was surrounded by enemies, he caused fire to himself. And Prokhorenko, he contrasted two pears who surrendered in Ukraine - they like "leaked" everything in order to stay alive. "

The Russian authorities, consisting of 70–80 % of people with a Chekist past, will not forgive Erofeev and Alexandrov weakness, claims in a conversation with NT the other acting employee of one of the power structures - even taking into account the fact that both were detained with serious injuries, and Erofeev told that he planned to undermine himself, but could not reach his armored shoulders. Grenades. “The main thing is that then they split, set up the state.”

“She has a huge moral capital today. She may not know how to dispose of them. I hope that she will be able to influence the procedure for the exchange of all other prisoners "

At the same time, another interlocutor of NT, the acting employee of the GRU, remarks: Erofeev and Alexandrov, in principle, could not have instructions to undermine himself-“there are no such instructions”: “They cleared the bridge, well, they were covered-not Aidarovs, and not fighters of some kind of APU brigade there, but specially trained people from the SBU, who specially hunted for our military, so that they would then bring them to everything The world. We have this garbage at all at once ... "

This means that it may well happen that “our guys” will soon be ascended to the pedestal, like Anna Chapman (in the USA) and Andrei Lugovoi (in the UK): yes, they lit up, signed traces, had to make excuses to the whole world. But there was also the benefit, they did not try for themselves - for their homeland.

How to do with the rest

Both Kyiv and Moscow have plans to exchange all prisoners held by both sides of the prisoners, says Oksana Sokolovskaya’s lawyer: “This was a long time ago.” However, according to her, today in Ukraine there are no more prisoners officially recognized by Russian military personnel.

Other NT sources say that in total about 600 Russians are detained in Ukraine.

Oleg Sentsov and Alexander Kolchenko in the Russian court, August 25, 2015

“The Kyiv authorities in captivity, of course, have unnamed military personnel of the Russian army,” said Nadezhda Savchenko, Mark Feigin in a conversation with NT. - Their number is unknown to me, but the fact that there are such faces is for sure. I can assume that negotiations about their exchange are underway. But while they are not public, Moscow’s motivation to give them for Sentsov (Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov was sentenced to 20 years for terrorist activities.-NT; see NT No. 12 of April 13, 2015) or someone else remains very low. Therefore, the process can last a very long time - months, years ... "

“The liberation of hope can affect the fate of the rest of the prisoners, but no guarantees can be given. Decisions depend on the position of one single person who is in the Kremlin "

В то же время Фейгин признает: освобождение Надежды Савченко может повлиять на судьбу остальных украинских узников в России — «их примерно дюжина» — хотя никаких гарантий давать нельзя: «Решения зависят от позиции одного-единственного человека, который находится в Кремле».

«После выхода на свободу Надежды Савченко появилась надежда на освобождение других украинцев, находящихся в российских тюрьмах — соглашается с Фейгиным юрист-международник Владимир Жбанков. — Еще в апреле Минюст России направлял ФСИН поручения о передаче осужденных Александра Кольченко, Геннадия Афанасьева, Олега Сенцова и Юрия Солошенко украинской стороне и проверке отсутствия оснований, препятствующих этой передаче. Олег Сенцов и другие участники «преступной группы» были суждены по особо тяжким статьям Уголовного кодекса, так же как и Надежда Савченко».

По мнению Фейгина, в ситуации, если, к примеру, Европа продлит санкции против России, реакцией Кремля может стать отказ от всякого дальнейшего диалога. «Ситуация с Савченко уникальна, — добавляет адвокат. — Не будь она депутатом ПАСЕ и не возникни вокруг ее дела такого громкого шума, оказавшего влияние на международную политику, она разделила бы общую судьбу».

Фото: Igor Golovniov/zuma wire/zumapress.com, Василий Дерюгин/Коммерсантъ