Freed Ukrainian pilot calls for talks with separatist rebels
Source: The Guardian
Freed Ukrainian pilot calls for talks with separatist rebels
Nadiya Savchenko offers to negotiate with insurgency leaders
as skirmishes continue with little prospect of lasting solution
Shaun Walker Moscow correspondent
Thursday 9 June 2016 15.54 BST
Nadiya Savchenko, the Ukrainian helicopter pilot who spent more than a year in a Russian jail, has issued a surprise call for direct dialogue with the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk peoples republics.
Savchenko was sentenced to 22 years in jail in March but released as part of a prisoner swap last month. She returned to Kiev a hero and has taken up the parliamentary seat she was given while jailed.
Savchenko, who served in a Ukrainian volunteer battalion prior to her arrest, was expected to take a hard line on the conflict in the east, but instead said direct dialogue was required, in addition to keeping up international diplomatic pressure on Russia.
We should establish direct internal communication without third or fourth parties, said Savchenko in a radio interview. She added that was ready to negotiate with Alexander Zakharchenko, the leader of the Donetsk Peoples Republic, directly.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/09/freed-ukrainian-pilot-nadiya-savchenko-calls-for-talks-with-separatist-rebels