WASHINGTON – A Senate resolution calling for the release of Nadiya Savchenko, the Ukrainian pilot captured by Russian forces in Ukraine in June 2014 and imprisoned in Russia since July, was passed by unanimous consent on February 12. Lt. Savchenko has been on a hunger strike since December 14, 2014, to protest her illegal detention.
S. Res. 52, introduced on January 28, was sponsored by Helsinki Commission Senate Ranking Member Ben Cardin (D-Md.), with Helsinki Commission Co-Chairman Rodger Wicker (R-Miss.) as original co-sponsor. Other co-sponsors were Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Marco Rubio (R- Fla.)
Observers noted that the resolution was passed within two weeks of its introduction, testifying to the concern over Lt. Savchenko’s dire situation.
Sen. Cardin said the Ukrainian pilot “has been languishing in Russian prisons since she was abducted by pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine last July and illegally transferred across the border in handcuffs and with a bag over her head.”
He continued: “In the eight months Nadiya has been incarcerated on specious and unsubstantiated charges, she has endured interrogations, involuntary psychiatric evaluations and solitary confinement in the same pretrial detention center where Sergei Magnitsky was tortured and killed in 2009. The resolution is especially timely as Nadiya is in the 62nd day of a hunger strike. Her health is rapidly deteriorating. Her situation is critical. And yet, on Tuesday, a Moscow court extended her detention until May 13, ignoring clear evidence compiled by the defense proving her non-involvement in the deeds the Russian authorities claim as justification for holding her.”
Sen. Cardin further noted that “Nadiya is yet another victim of the Putin regime’s lawlessness, brutality and contempt for human life. And we need to recognize that this isn’t just about her; it’s a highly visible manifestation of Putin’s contempt for a Ukraine that wishes to remain free, independent, and democratic.”
The resolution reads: “Resolved, that the Senate: (1) condemns the government of the Russian Federation for its illegal imprisonment of Nadiya Savchenko; (2) calls on the government of the Russian Federation to immediately release Nadiya Savchenko; (3) calls on the United States, its European allies, and the international community to aggressively support diplomatic efforts to release Nadiya Savchenko; and (4) expresses solidarity with the Ukrainian people.”
The resolution notes that “Nadiya Savchenko is the first-ever female fighter pilot in Ukraine’s armed forces and is an Iraqi war veteran,” and that, “in the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, Nadiya Savchenko volunteered her services to the Ukrainian Aidar battalion.”