In Kiev, detained recognized by national hero Nadezhda Savchenko: the main thing

The security service of Ukraine detained the helicopter pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, recognized as a national hero, on Thursday, after the parliament agreed to bring her to criminal responsibility and arrest because of suspicions of preparing a terrorist act in the government quarter of Kiev.

Из героя Украины — в антигероя

Savchenko was captured by separatists in the fighting zone in the east of Ukraine in 2014, and taken to Russia, where she was put in prison on charges of murder, which she called fabricated. In March, a Russian court sentenced 2016 to 22 years in prison. For many Ukrainians who watched the broadcast of the trial, Savchenko has become a symbol of resistance to Russia.

Nadezhda Savchenko. Photo: tsn.ua

In May of the same year, Savchenko was pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine met her as a hero after returning from Russia as part of an exchange of prisoners in May 2016, пишет Reuters

Ukrainians in the United States held an anti-Putin rally. Photo: facebook.com/Alex Zaporozhtsev

However, after returning to Ukraine, Savchenko quickly fell into disfavor of parliamentarians. In December, 20016 of the year she left the Batkivshchyna party, stating that she would run for president, met with separatist leaders from the self-proclaimed DNR and LNR without the knowledge of Ukraine’s top officials and to their extreme irritation, Medusa writes.

15 March 2018, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine accused Savchenko of preparing for the “violent overthrow of the government”. According to investigators, Savchenko, along with "a number of people" was planning a coup d'etat. So far, one participant in this case is known - former military Vladimir Ruban, who in the past two years has been engaged in negotiations about the release of Ukrainian prisoners in the Donbas. Ruban was detained by the SSU 8 in March at the Mayorsk checkpoint in the Donetsk region on his way to Ukraine. In his car found a batch of weapons. He was accused of preparing the attack and arrested. Savchenko stood up for Ruban and offered to "bail him."

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, Savchenko and his accomplices planned to carry out an act of terrorism in the building of the Verkhovna Rada, when the first persons of the country were to be there - the president, members of the government and deputies. The rebels allegedly planned to bombard the building with a mortar, and Savchenko, who was, according to her status, was inside, was supposed to blow up several grenades in the Rada.

On the same day, March 15, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko introduced to the Verkhovna Rada an idea of ​​depriving Nadezhda Savchenko of his deputy’s mandate; 22 March issue submitted to a general vote.

As Nadezhda Savchenko deprived of parliamentary immunity

After the charges against Savchenko, the framework of metal detectors appeared in the building of the Verkhovna Rada - both for visitors and for deputies. 20 March, the parliament passed a bill that prohibits bringing firearms and potentially dangerous items into the Rada - knives, gas cartridges, flammable substances, cartridges, including idle ones.

Parliamentary deputy from “Batkivschyna” Andrei Senchenko said “Medusa” that even regardless of the accusations against Savchenko, such security measures make sense:

"Now is a dangerous time, anything can carry it, it is impossible for the Rada to be so revealed." Senchenko added that he himself would not vote for the removal of immunity from his former comrade, but called her "not completely adequate." “At that time such measures (Savchenko in 2014 was the first number in the election list of “Batkivschyna” - approx. "Jellyfish") were justified - to pull her out. I think that we need to take away all our political prisoners, but whether they should then be in politics, this is a question, ”he said.

Other deputies were more categorical: Igor Mosiychuk, a member of the Radical Party, who visited the meeting room, told journalists that Savchenko was “mentally ill”.

At nine in the morning of March 22, a meeting of the Rule Committee on the Rules began: he decided whether to put the question to a general vote or not. Prosecutor General Yury Lutsenko told the deputies that the plans of Savchenko and Ruban were recorded on video. He asked the committee for consent to arrest the deputy. Savchenko in her return speech said that she knew about the surveillance by the Security Service of Ukraine. According to her, the SBU "tried to recruit" and her sister Vera.

Savchenko did not deny that she was talking about a possible undermining of the parliament, but, according to her, she did it to “scare the authorities”. “These are just words. They don’t judge for words, ”she said. Then Savchenko took out two large grenades from her bag and showed them to the audience (apparently, this is an ironic reaction to the accusations against her that she was going to blow up the grenades in parliament). After that, the committee unanimously agreed to remove immunity from Savchenko.

Two meetings, supporters and opponents of Savchenko gathered near the parliament building. Opponents - mostly elderly women - were holding white posters in their hands, on which in red and blue it was written: “Say ni Putinsky pigs” (“Say no to Putin's pig”).

People who came to support Savchenko were holding a poster “Nad_ya - Nad_ya Ukrainy” (“Hope is the hope of Ukraine”). One of the protesters told Medusa that Savchenko is “a symbol of the fight against the Kremlin,” that she “lost her health in a Russian prison,” and the Prosecutor General’s accusations are “provocation and staging.”

From time to time, supporters of Savchenko entered into an altercation with opponents, but they were quickly separated by the communication police (a special unit created in 2016, which works at rallies and prevents conflicts).

Consideration of the issue of depriving Nadezhda Savchenko of parliamentary powers began in the middle of the day. Yuriy Lutsenko came out to the deputies and showed a video made by the SSU officers. This is a 27-minute video with a transcript of the conversations recorded on audio, as well as several videos made by a hidden camera. On one of the videos, Savchenko speaks with Vladimir Ruban in some apartment and offers to arrange a military coup: “Because they need to be physically removed, and all at once. This is one method. One day and only from the inside. Maybe a couple of days. ” Prosecutor Lutsenko said that Savchenko was preparing attacks in the interests of the self-proclaimed DNR and Russia.

Nadezhda Savchenko took the floor and said that the Ukrainian government does not want the end of the war and this “is no different from Russia.”

The deputies first voted in favor of removing immunity from Savchenko (291 deputy from 450; at the March 22 meeting there were 339 deputies), then - for depriving her deputy mandate (277 votes). By third vote, they consented to her arrest (268 votes).

“As a joke, seriously, with a fool or drunk, Nadezhda Savchenko planned it all, for that we must plant. You can strongly dislike Yuriy Lutsenko, do not trust [the head of the Security Service of Ukraine] Vasyl Gritsak, and don’t want a second term of [President of Ukraine] Petro Poroshenko. I also have a lot of questions for them. But, sorry for the pathos, this is not about them, this is about the country, ”the deputy and former journalist Mustafa Nayem wrote on Facebook immediately after the vote.

After the vote, investigators approached Savchenko and suggested that she proceed to the Main Directorate of the SBU. Surrounded by a crowd of journalists, they left the Rada and walked about two kilometers to the building of the Security Service of Ukraine; here journalists are no longer allowed in.

Photo: pravda.com.ua

Petro Poroshenko, on whose plane in 2016, Savchenko, after pardoning, was returning from the Rostov region to Kiev, 22 March thanked the Prosecutor General’s Office and the SBU on Facebook for the “saved lives” and the “uncovered Russian operation”.

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