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“I welcome today’s announcement of the release of Nadiya Savchenko, the Ukrainian servicewoman who was sentenced in March to 22 years in prison in Russia. Throughout her detention in Russia, Ireland, in conjunction with the European Union and its Member States, repeatedly called for her immediate release. I am pleased therefore to hear of today’s developments and that Nadiya Savchenko is now back in Ukraine where she has been reunited with her family and friends.

“Nadiya’s release is in keeping with the ‘Package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk Agreements’ and Ireland once again underlines the importance of the full and swift implementation of all provisions of the Minsk Agreements.”

Notes for Editors

Nadiya Savchenko is a former Ukrainian military pilot, who on 22 March was sentenced by a Russian court to 22 years in prison for complicity in the murder of two journalists in eastern Ukraine in June 2014. Russian prosecutors claimed that she was responsible for directing artillery attacks that resulted in the death of two journalists working for Russian state television. She consistently denied these allegations. The court that convicted her refused to admit evidence her defence team claimed would demonstrate that she could not have been in the alleged area at the time of the incident. While Russia claimed that Ms Savchenko crossed the border into Russia illegally where she was then detained, she has maintained that she was abducted by Russian forces in Ukraine and transported across the border. Her release today is part of a prisoner exchange between Savchenko and two Russian soldiers who were found guilty last month of fighting alongside separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Ireland and the European Union have repeatedly called for the immediate release of Ms Savchenko on a number of grounds, including for humanitarian reasons (she had gone on hunger strike in detention and reports indicated that her health was in a serious condition) and on the basis of the Minsk Agreements (which contain commitments therein to release all hostages and illegally detained persons related to the conflict in eastern Ukraine). Minister Flanagan discussed Ms Savchenko’s case with the Ukrainian government during a visit to Ukraine in July last year and at the Foreign Affairs Council in March. He also released a statement calling for her release upon her sentencing in March.