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Diplomat: Kiev lost in its own information campaign when commenting on Savchenko verdict

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova pointed out that the Ukrainian president's statement contradicted the one made by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Artyom Geodakyan/TASS

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

© Artyom Geodakyan/TASS

MOSCOW, March 22. /TASS/. Ukraine’s authorities seem to be lost in their own information campaign when they react to the verdict of a Russian court to former Ukrainian woman pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday.

"First we hear news number one: [Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko says he is ready to exchange Savchenko for two Russian citizens detained in Ukraine," she wrote on her Facebook account. "Forty minutes later we hear news number two: ‘We consider this court farce as another unquestionable evidence of Russia’s failure to fulfil the Minsk agreements,’ according to the statement of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry circulated in Kiev on Tuesday. "The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry demands the Russian side immediately revoke the illegitimate, anti-humane verdict and immediately release Nadezhda Savchenko."

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"Well, has the president promised anything or have the Minsk agreements been violated? Should she be exchanged or released? Ukraine’s authorities seem to be lost in their own information campaign," Zakharova underscored.

The Donetsk city court in Russia’s southern Rostov region on Tuesday sentenced Nadezhda Savchenko, a Ukrainian ex-pilot, to 22 years in a general regime penal colony and a fine worth 30,000 rubles ($442).

Savchenko was found guilty of the murder of journalists from Russia’s VGTRK television channel, Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin; of an attempt to kill civilians, and of illegal crossing of the Russian state border.

Savchenko’s term starts from the date of detention, or June 30, 2014. Thus, her prison sentence will last for 20 years and 3 months. The sentence will come into force in 10 days if the ex-pilot does not submit an appeal.

Savchenko earlier said she disagreed with the verdict but would not challenge the court ruling.

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