Poroshenko submits Savchenko sanctions list to the President of the European Parliament
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko gave European Council President Donald Tusk a list of people against whom Kiev proposes to impose personal sanctions for their involvement in the case of Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, as stated by the Press Secretary of the President of Ukraine, Svyatoslav Tsegolko, on Twitter.
The Press Secretary later reported that the sanctions proposal were also submitted to the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz. Poroshenko called on Schulz to put more pressure on Russia in order to secure the immediate release of Savchenko and other Ukrainians held in Russian prisons.
The Head of the Ukrainian State also called on the European Union to maintain sanctions against Russia until the Minsk Agreements are fully implemented. On the 15th of March, Poroshenko reported that Ukraine is working closely with the EU and the US to develop a Savchenko sanctions list.
Nadiya Savchenko has been charged with the murder of two Russian journalists. It is widely believed that Savchenko was in fact captured by Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) separatists in eastern Ukraine and was illegally transported to Russia, where the case was fabricated against her.
On March 2nd, the prosecutor’s office requested that she be sentenced to 23 years in a penal colony and given a fine of 100,000 rubles ($1,400).
Savchenko declared a dry hunger strike on March 3rd after the Donetsk City Court in the Rostov region announced that she would not be given a chance to make her final closing statement during a court hearing.