Stephen Lendman

Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko involved with the infamous Nazi-infested Aidar battalion is an unapologetic killer.

Last March, she was convicted in a Russian court on multiple charges, including murdering two Russian journalists in Donbass - Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin. In June 2014, she sent coordinates of their location to an Aidar artillery unit.

The attack on their position killed them along with Ukrainian civilians. On March 22, RT International’s Murad Gazdiev twittered “(t)he court has no doubts about #Savchenko’s guilt on all counts.”

Russia’s Investigative Committee collected reliable evidence, including eyewitness testimonies. In pronouncing sentence, Judge Leonid Stepanenko said she was well “aware of the extent and social danger of her actions…”

She was sentenced to 22 years in prison. Charges of killing civilians were dropped, the court saying it “ha(d) no authority to try her for murdering Ukrainian civilians.”

Kiev outrageously called her a prisoner of war. In March 2015, she was awarded the title of “hero of Ukraine.” She admitted directing artillery fire at two Russian journalists.

While imprisoned in Russia for murder, she was elected to Ukraine’s parliament and her nation’s permanent mission to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

During trial proceedings, she remained defiant, interrupting Judge Stepanenko, singing the Ukrainian national anthem and chanting “(g)lory to Ukraine! Death to our enemies!”

On Wednesday, she returned home, swapped for two illegally held Russian nationals (Alexander Alexandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev, falsely accused of being combatants in Donbass), greeted by US-appointed oligarch president Petro Poroshenko.

Reports indicated the exchange was agreed on late Monday during a phone conversation between Putin, Germany’s Angela Merkel, France’s Francois Hollande and Poroshenko.

European Parliament president Martin Schulz, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier outrageously hailed the good news.

Russian upper house Federation Council President Valentina Matviyenko said “(i)t’s very sad for a country where they make national heroes out of representatives of radical nationalist organizations, people with blood on their hands, accomplices to fascists.”

“As for Savchenko, there’s no reason to make her a national hero because it’s been proved by a Russian court that she was guilty in the deaths of Russian journalists, among other things.”

While in custody, Obama and other Western leaders disgracefully called for her release. John Kerry ludicrously called it “an important part of fulfilling Russia’s commitments under the Minsk agreements.”

Neocon US UN envoy Samantha Power said Washington is “overjoyed” at Savchenko’s release. As expected, she blasted what she called “farcical Russian legal proceedings” - ignoring the high crime of murder and Washington’s direct involvement in Ukraine’s war on its own Donbass citizens.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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