Maria SAVCHENKO: “…Shame on you, Russia!”
The Day’s reporter met with the captive pilot’s mother
Nadia SAVCHENKO: “I will continue my hunger strike until they release me and let me go back to Ukraine”
The Day’s reporter met with the captive pilot’s mother Maria Savchenko. Video of their conversation is available at our website, featuring discussion of the court hearings and Russian journalists, Nadia’s childhood, her youth, her participation in the Euromaidan events and the war...
Kyivites came to the Russian embassy on February 24 to demand the release of Ukrainian pilot, MP, member of the PACE Nadia Savchenko who started her ongoing hunger strike 74 days ago... The activists, numbering four dozen or so and including representatives of the Fatherland party and Nadia’s sister Vira Savchenko, held posters reading “Free Nadia Savchenko!”, “Free political prisoners!”, “Free Savchenko” (in English), and “Savchenko has been on a hunger strike for 74 days already.” Savchenko’s supporters also released the “Savchenko list” which includes persons involved in the kidnapping, transportation to Russia, and imprisonment of the Ukrainian pilot. There are 35 people on the list: doctors, investigators, prosecutors linked to the Savchenko case as well as top political leaders of Russia who made the political decision to prosecute her. The list’s No. 1 is Vladimir Putin. Activists told us that they planned to add new names to the list and present it to the international diplomatic community, including representatives of the US and EU.
PUTIN HEADS THE “SAVCHENKO LIST” (NADIA’S SISTER VIRA SAVCHENKO IS PICTURED LEFT) / Photo by Artem SLIPACHUK, The Day
On the eve of the protest, The Day’s reporter met with the pilot’s mother Maria Savchenko. This 77-year-old woman believes that our united effort will be enough to save Nadia Savchenko, but she has no hope left for the Russian justice system. “I was in the courtroom on February 10, it was the second time I saw Nadia since her decision to go to war in May 2014. They had her escorted to court by 17 or 18 guards and a police dog. Well, you know, Russia’s behavior is simply shameful! I was able to meet Nadia for half an hour the day before. I hugged my little girl, I cried so much, I cannot endure it anymore, she is so thin already. I took her hands in mine, and her bones were visible through her skin. She said then: ‘Mommy, do not cry, just do not cry,’” Maria Savchenko told us. “She does not listen to me, even though I begged her: ‘Nadia, cease your hunger strike already, take pity on yourself and me...’ She responded then: ‘I will have no pity on you or myself, mommy! I will continue my hunger strike until they release me and let me go back to Ukraine.’ She has been on a hunger strike for 74 days, and her last glucose injection was 13 days ago, she has shed 20 kilograms already...”
Maria Savchenko recently wrote a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, asking her to facilitate Nadia Savchenko’s release, translated it into German and brought it to the German embassy in Kyiv. “They promised us that the letter will reach Merkel’s table. I wrote letters to Putin and Russian mothers as well... But these letters are as good as lost. Where will they get there? Who has any use for them there?” she said with a sigh.
The Day’s website is already hosting the video of our conversation with Maria Savchenko, featuring discussion of the February 10 court hearing and Russian journalists, Nadia’s childhood, her youth, her participation in the Euromaidan events and the war...
Nadia’s sister Vira Savchenko calls upon all concerned people to send Nadia letters of support. Her current address is 107076, Russia, Moscow, 18 Matrosskaya Tishina Street, for Savchenko Nadia, born in 1981.
