Grigory Yavlinsky’s web-site, 22.03.2016

Photograph by Dmitry Lebedev/ Kommersant

The sentence passed today on Nadezhda Savchenko is inseparable from the military, political and media campaign launched by the Russian Federation against Ukraine two years ago. Unlawful actions of the Russian authorities against Ukraine also include the trial on Savchenko. And this sentence – like a shot from a gun – is part of the war.

The trial on Savchenko is part of an operation to support the armed separatists, who with the help of and under the guidance of Russia seek destabilisation of Ukraine. The goal of the operation is to restrict the sovereignty of Ukraine and submit it to the Russian Federation. And since Russia is the initiator and a party involved in the military and political operations against Ukraine, the criminal prosecution of Nadezhda Savchenko, a citizen of Ukraine, is certainly politically motivated.

The sentence to Nadezhda Savchenko represents reprisals, rather than an act of justice. All the responsibility for her life now lies on the Russian government and personally President Putin, as has already been very clearly stated by the YABLOKO party.

The Savchenko case will only be completed when Russia’s war against Ukraine stops, when senseless suffering of people are stopped and our country pursues a policy based on the laws, signed treaties and respect for internationally recognised borders of the neighboring states.