Not many people would be comfortable having a gaggle of TV crews and journalists scrutinize their every move on their first day in a new job, but Nadiya Savchenko took it pretty much in her stride.
Savchenko,
Ukraine’s newest lawmaker, stepped into parliament and into the spotlight of
national politics on May 31, less than a week after being released from nearly
two years of captivity in Russia.
During her
first day in the parliament, Savchenko talked about other Ukrainian prisoners,
smoked a lot, sang the national anthem at the parliament tribune, encouraged
her colleagues to vote, and struggled to use the lawmakers’ voting terminal for
the first time.
“I’m back. I
won’t let you forget about all those Ukrainians who died for Ukraine during
EuroMaidan Revolution, and are continuing to die in the Donbas,” Savchenko said during
her first speech in parliament.
“They’re
standing in their graves, and will only lie down when we get the Ukraine they fought
and died for,” added Savchenko.
Nadiya Savchenko (R) and her colleague from Batkivshchyna faction hang white and red banner with the portraits of more than 30 Ukrainian prisoners, and a slogan reading “Freedom to the prisoners of the Kremlin!” (Volodymyr Petrov)
She then
sang Ukraine’s national anthem and took down the banner reading “Free Nadiya Savchenko”
that had hung on the Rada’s rostrum for more than a year.
“I’m
changing the banner and hanging another, with the faces of the guys who are still
suffering in Russian prisons, so that you can look in their eyes and know that
you have no right to leave them in captivity,” Savchenko said.
She then hung
a white and red banner with the portraits of more than 30 Ukrainian prisoners,
and a slogan reading “Freedom to the prisoners of the Kremlin!”
Hard day at work
Savchenko
came to work early, at 7 a.m, three hours before the start of the parliamentary
session. She sat peacefully on a bench in Mariinsky Park near the Ukrainian
parliament building, enjoying a cigarette and a cup of coffee.
Savchenko struggles to operate the voting machine while standing near her place in Verkhovna Rada on May 31 (Volodymyr Petrov)
“For almost
two years I’ve been getting ‘absent from the workplace’ notes, so I’ll come and
start working,” she joked during her first press conference on May 27.
It has
already been announced that Savchenko will join parliament’s National Security
and Defense Committee.
After Savchenko’s speech,
lawmakers started voting to place various laws on the agenda. From the
parliament rostrum, People’s Front Party leader Maksym Burbak and Radical Party
leader Oleh Lyashko welcomed Savchenko, calling her release “a great victory for
the Ukrainian nation.”
When
lawmakers failed at the first attempt to vote onto the agenda bill No. 4482,
which bans members of families that have already lost a relative in the war in
Donbas from being called up for military service, Savchenko, who has a front-row
seat,turned in her place and snarled “Vote!” at her colleagues. In the end, 263
lawmakers of the 341 present in Rada voted to include the bill.
“Thank you
Nadiya! With your presence we have finally started working as a team,” said
Andriy Parubiy, the speaker of parliament.
However, Savchenko herself
had difficulty voting, struggling to operate the voting machine, pushing and pulling
her voting card in and out of the terminal.Her colleagues from the Batkivschyna
faction came to her aid and showed her how to use the machine.
“It’s her
first day, so it’s hard. We had a training session before starting to work as lawmakers,
whileNadiyahas had no time to study the system,” Bloc of Petro Poroshenko
lawmaker and former journalist Sergii Leshchenko told the Kyiv Post.
Iryna Yuzik, an
old, close friend of Savchenko who has become her aide and spokesperson, told
the Kyiv Post that she and Savchenko were finding it difficult to get used to
the challenging atmosphere in the Rada.
“We’re
getting so much attention and pressure these days. Nadiya is still studying how
to be a lawmaker,” said Yuzik.
Volodymyr
Parasyuk, an independent lawmaker, who is also a former EuroMaidan Revolution
activist, described Savchenko as a sincere and emotional person.
“The system
here(in parliament) is awful and filthy, full of gossip and bribery. You have
to get a sort of mental bulletproof vest to be able to stand it,” Parasyuk said.
Bloc of
Petro Poroshenko lawmaker Olga Bogomolets wished her new colleague good luck, saying
after almost three years of working as a lawmaker she still wasn’t used to all
the pressure, and doesn’t actually like her work.
But at least
one lawmaker had words of caution regarding Savchenko and her new role.
Ex-governor
of Donetsk Oblast and lawmaker Serhiy Taruta said that Savchenko is a “western Ukrainian
hero”who shouldn’t be imposed on eastern Ukraine, as citizens there don’t see her
as a hero. They need time to understand her role, he said.
“In such
hard times we need to learn how to forgive and love, and not to radicalize
society. Nadiya’s fate is her private
matter. She needs to build her political career now,” said Taruta.
Music and people
Savchenko
was active even when parliament wasn’t doing its official business. During the lunch
break, she stepped out of the parliament building to take a smoke – and ended up
taking part in a protest against Russian music being broadcast on Ukrainian
radio and TV.
Savchenko smokes cigarette while standing outside the Ukrainian parliament building during the afternoon break on May 31 (Volodymyr Petrov)
“I had to
watch Russian TV and listen to stupid Russian pop music for almost two years in
prison,” Savchenko told the protesters.“So now the Ukrainian songs you guys are playing
here are tickling my ears.”
Kyiv Post staff writer Veronika
Melkozerova can be reached at [email protected]
