U.S. authorities are concerned that charges may be brought against captive Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko accused of illegal crossing the border with Russia, U.S. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said.
“We’re very much concerned about these new charges that may be brought against Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko, who is now at Moscow’s Serbsky [State Scientific] Center [for Social and Forensic Psychiatry] undergoing a forced psychiatric evaluation,” Psaki said at a briefing on Oct. 29.
According to Psaki, the new accusations of Savchenko’s illegal crossing the border with Russia are illogical. She was kidnapped by pro-Russian separatists in the east of Ukraine and brought to Russia against her will.
Savchenko’s custody extension until February 2015 is the violation of the Minsk agreements, Psaki said. “We urge Russia to immediately release her,” she added.
It was reported earlier that Savchenko, a 31-year-old navigator, was fighting with the Aidar volunteer battalion in eastern Ukraine when she was captured by illegal armed units near the town of Schastia, a suburb of Luhansk, in June. It turned out on July 8 that Savchenko was kept at a detention facility in Voronezh, Russia. On September 24, she was brought to detention center No. 6 in Moscow. Investigators insisted that Savchenko had to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
Savchenko denies her guilt and says she was abducted on the Ukrainian territory.
On Oct. 27, the Basmanny Court of Moscow decided to extend the custody of the Ukrainian pilot until Feb. 13, 2015.
As was recently reported, Russian investigators may bring a new action against Savchenko, accusing her of the illegal crossing of the border with Russia (Part 1 Article 322 of Russia’s Criminal Code).
