Ukrainian fighter pilot Nadia Savchenko has responded to questions from CNN from prison in Moscow, saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin should release her first if he wants peace between Ukraine and Russia.
Imprisoned without trial for nine months, Savchenko has been on a 83-day hunger strike, saying that willpower helps her survive,” Ukraine Today reports.
According to Savchenko, she is being kept under round-the-clock surveillance - tough security measures which she said were absurd.
Efforts are being made worldwide to secure the high profile prisoner’s release, but despite calls from EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini and the U.S. State Department, the Russian authorities refuse even to transfer Savchenko to house arrest.
Savchenko, who was elected as a Ukrainian MP and a member of Council of Europe assembly during her detention, has been charged by the Russian authorities with being involved in the killing of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine. Russian law enforcement officials are ignoring her diplomatic immunity.
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