This week’s major news development was the 22-year sentence handed down by a Russian court to Nadiya Savchenko, a former Ukrainian military pilot who had joined a volunteer battalion fighting in Ukraine’s eastern regions. The news was not so much that she had been found guilty and sentenced – that was expected in this political show trial – but that the trial itself was finally over after countless court delays and extensions of her detention by the Russian captors who have held her since June 2014.
International efforts to secure Ms. Savchenko’s release are continuing, and there has been an unconfirmed report, attributed to Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mykhailo Zurabov, that she could be released in two weeks’ time. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is in Moscow as these words are being written, was expected to discuss the Savchenko case and the ongoing war in Ukraine’s east with Russian leaders.
The first news from Moscow was not promising, however. A March 23 Associated Press story headlined “Russia Accuses Ukraine of Ignoring Peace Deal” reported: “Opening a day of intense international diplomacy Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday accused Ukraine’s government of dragging its feet on implementing last year’s ceasefire agreement.” (Aha, once again, Ukraine is at fault…) The next day, speaking before his meeting with Mr. Lavrov, Mr. Kerry spoke only of Syria and “other challenges of the region,” as well as the heinous terrorist attacks in Brussels. There was no mention of Ukraine. But later that day Mr. Kerry tweeted: “Spoke at length today with FM Lavrov about #Syria and #Ukraine. Productive dialogue with important partner.” We could find no more details at press time.
While it is commendable that efforts are focused on the Savchenko case – perhaps most pressing in view of her repeated hunger strikes – we cannot forget about Russia’s other hostages, political prisoners and prisoners of war. Indeed, the pastor of our local Ukrainian Catholic church underscored at a Lenten service and prayer vigil for Ms. Savchenko on March 23 that we pray for all the captives.
Among them are filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and Oleksander Kolchenko, who were tried as “terrorists” and back in August of last year were sentenced to 20 and 10 years, respectively. The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group notes that Messrs. Sentsov and Kolchenko, as well as Gennadii Afanasyev and Oleksy Chirniy are all Crimeans who opposed Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea. They were all arrested in May 2014, and held incommunicado for weeks before being illegally taken from Crimea to Russia, with Russia claiming that they have “automatically” become Russian nationals. The human rights monitoring organization has also reported on Crimean Tatars being held in Russian-occupied Crimea, who are falsely accused of being involved in a terrorist group. And then there are POWs captured by Russia and its “separatist” collaborators. The Kharkiv monitors said in February that it knew of at least 140 hostages held captive by Kremlin-backed militants in the Donbas.
All of them are being held despite the Minsk II agreement’s provisions on “the release and exchange of hostages and illegally detained persons based on the principle of ‘all for all,’ ” as well as earlier provisions in Minsk I.
All these prisoners, like Ms. Savchenko, are Vladimir Putin’s hostages. They cannot be forgotten by the West, by Ukraine or by us.