Russia FM: Savchenko’s disgusting behavior made Ukrainian doctors visit impossible

MOSCOW, March 10. /TASS/. Ukrainian ex-pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, on trial over killing of two Russian journalists, was not allowed to meet with Ukrainian doctors following her improper behavior in court, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Ren TV channel.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin asked for the making an exception and allow Savchenko’s contact with Ukrainian doctors after the woman announced plans to go on ‘dry’ hunger strike last week. The judge said this visit could be possible after the trial on Wednesday, Lavrov reminded.

"However, during the trial Nadezhda Savchenko had the only goal of insulting the court," Lavrov said. At the Donetsk city court on Wednesday, Savchenko showed Russian judges the middle finger and sang Ukraine’s national anthem.

"The court considered that it has no right to make any concessions due to the actions that insulted the court itself."

The Ukrainian foreign minister failed to apologize for Savchenko’s improper behavior in a phone conversation on Wednesday. "But it was clear for him that in this situation the defendant solved all the issues not in her favor," Lavrov said. "If of course, she needed doctors."

Lavrov said Russian doctors regularly visit Savchenko and "they have no suspicions that she is terminally ill." "She feels normal and exercises," he added.

"I told Klimkin that we did everything what they had asked for, taking into account humanity aspects, we made exceptions from our rules but her defiant and disgusting behavior made the visit of doctors on which he had already agreed impossible," Lavrov said.

On March 3, Savchenko declared ‘dry’ hunger strike, meaning that she refuses both food and water. The move came in protest as the court in southern Russia delayed the decision in her case.

Earlier in the day, lawyer Mark Feygin told TASS Savchenko has ended the hunger strike and started taking food.

The 34-year-old Ukrainian is charged with murder, attempted murder and illegal border crossing. The pronouncement of the verdict in the case will begin on March 21 and will take two days.

Russia’s investigators say Savchenko joined the Aidar militant battalion and in June 2014 conducted covert surveillance and direction of artillery bombarding targeting a checkpoint in the much-troubled Lugansk region. The settlement was full of civilians, including three Russian journalists.

Two Russian journalists - Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin - from the All-Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network (VGTRK) died in the shelling.