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Diplomats in talks on date of Savchenko handover — Ukraine’s justice ministry

International talks through which Kiev seeks to bring Savchenko home envisage a particular date before which the handover would be impossible, Ukraine’s Justice Minister says

Nadezhda Savchenko Valeriy Matytsin/TASS

Nadezhda Savchenko

© Valeriy Matytsin/TASS

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Russian Justice Ministry gets query on documents for turnover of Ukrainian pilot Savchenko

KIEV, April 21. /TASS/. Diplomats are holding talks on the possible timeframe for return of convicted former Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko to home country, Ukraine’s Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko said on Thursday.

"The talks on Savchenko’s release have moved forward and now our diplomats are discussing the possible timeframe for Nadezhda’s return home," the minister was quoted by the Ukrinform news agency as saying.

The minister said international talks through which Kiev seeks to bring Savchenko home envisage a particular date before which the handover would be impossible.

"We try to speed up this process as Nadezhda’s health is deteriorating. Russia is giving certain signals on this," Petrenko said, adding that Kiev would like to know the official stance of the Russian side.

Earlier on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that there are no developments on the convicted Ukrainian ex-pilot's exchange. Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko said on Tuesday he was ready to send a plane for Savchenko in case an agreement on the swap was reached.

Russia’s justice ministry said on Wednesday it has received Ukraine’s request for documents to solve the issue on Savchenko’s handover to Ukraine for serving her sentence there.

In late March, a court in southern Russia found Savchenko guilty of directing the pro-Kiev forces’ artillery fire in Ukraine's south-east that had killed Russian journalists. The judge also said she had illegally crossed the Russian border. Savchenko denied any wrongdoing and didn’t recognize the Russian court’s verdict.

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Ukraine crisis Nadezhda Savchenko

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