From her first minutes back on home Ukrainian soil, defiant pilot Nadiya Savchenko showed disdain for Ukraine’s top politicians as well as Russian leaders.
At Kyiv’s Boryspil International Airport, Savchenko refused to take flowers from Yulia Tymoshenko, her party leader in parliament. At the Presidential Administration, she didn’t thank President Petro Poroshenko for her release, mentioning only her family members and the Ukrainian people.
“The people are a great force. Without the people, the politicians wouldn’t have done a thing,” she said with determination and without a hint of gratitude to the head of state.
Poroshenko, who had no doubt hoped to win political points from the successful prisoner exchange, smiled and tried to flatter Savchenko. But standing next to him, she looked sullen and made controversial statements that no doubt left the president feeling uncomfortable.
She promised help in getting other Ukrainians free from Russian prisons and to make the Minsk peace agreement work and end Russia’s war. But she also claimed: “We can achieve peace only through war.”
After spending over two years in prison in Russia and being subjected to a sham trial on trumped-up murder charges, Savchenko, a 35-year-old military helicopter pilot, has become a symbol of Ukrainian heroism, with her portraits seen on posters and T-shirts.
Her reputation in Ukraine as a brave and bold, built up while she was in prison, means Savchenko, who was elected to parliament in absentia in 2014, is likely to make waves in Ukraine’s political scene.
“Savchenko’s return creates many serious problems and challenges for the country, which both those in power and opposition have tended not to speak about so far,” said Taras Berezovets, the head of Kyiv-based Berta Communications political consulting firm.
“Savchenko will be a problem for both Poroshenko and Tymoshenko,” added Volodymyr Fesenko, head of Penta political think tank.
Ukrainian Joan of Arc
Savchenko was captured in June 2014 by Russian-backed armed groups in Luhansk Oblast, when she was participating in a rescue operation for the volunteer Aidar Battalion which she joined after taking a leave from military service. She was secretly transported to Russia, where prosecutors blamed her for the deaths of Russian state TV journalists covering the war in Ukraine.
A Russian court sentenced her to 22 years in jail after a trial that Ukraine and its Western allies decried as a farce. Prominent leaders called on Russia to free Savchenko, whose speeches in court had won her sympathizers all over the world. The 2015 Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich called her the “Ukrainian Joan of Arc.”
Savchenko was released in exchange for two Russian military intelligence officers, Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Alexander Alexandrov, who were captured in Ukraine in 2015, and subsequently found guilty on terrorism charges. The exchange was made on May 25, the second anniversary of Poroshenko’s election as president.
Poroshenko sent his spokesman, Svyatoslav Tsegolko, and a long-time political ally, Parliament Vice Speaker Iryna Gerashchenko, in his plane to Russia to pick up Savchenko – a move seen as more PR campaign than secret rescue operation.
When the presidential aircraft with Savchenko landed in Kyiv, Poroshenko immediately boasted on Twitter that he was “the first to welcome Nadiya back onto Ukrainian soil.”
But the chants from the welcoming airport crowd would have Poroshenko uncomfortable. “Nadiya – millions are with you!” and “politicians came here for PR,” shouted whose who had gathered to greet Savchenko. One supporter shouted that Savchenko should be the next president.
“For us, like for the whole world, Savchenko is a symbol of Ukrainian power and our fight,” said Yevheniya Korotich, one of dozens of supporters who had come to greet the released pilot.
Tymoshenko, the leader of the Batkivshchyna Party, of which Savchenko is an elected lawmaker, and who came at the airpor with Savchenko’s mother and sister, also found herself in an awkward situation. Tymoshenko told journalists that Savchenko wouldn’t be speaking with them. But just minutes later, the pilot stopped the car, jumped out and gave a short briefing to the press, showing Tymoshenko has zero control over her.
Revival of Minsk?
Savchenko’s lawyer Mark Feygin said the deal to release his client was mediated by French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the lead peace brokers in talks to end Russia’s war on Ukraine.
“We may never find out what final lever of pressure Western leaders used to persuade (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” Feygin said.
In a statement, Merkel said she hoped for the “further exchange of prisoners within the framework of the Minsk agreements.” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Savchenko’s freedom “should now provide an impetus for the complete implementation” of the Minsk peace deal.
Gerashchenko told journalists at the airport that two more Ukrainians, Gennadiy Afanasiyev and Yury Soloshenko, are likely to be released by the end of May.
Meanwhile, in her speech at the Presidential Administration, Savchenko promised to help bring home Ukrainians held hostage by Russia.
According to human rights activist Maria Tomak, about 31 Ukrainians have been illegally imprisoned both in Russia and the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory of Crimea. She said Savchenko’s release may be a good omen.
“This exchange showed political agreements are the most important, not legal procedures,” Tomak said.
But Savchenko’s radical position may pose a problem for other aspects of the Minsk deal. Parliament is yet to pass changes to Constitution and a special law on elections in the parts of Ukraine where Russian-backed armed gangs have seized control. Neither law is likely to be supported by Savchenko and other lawmakers.
“She may say these agreements are treacherous and should be denounced,” Berezovets said.
Strong leader
After meeting with Poroshenko, who granted her a Golden Star of Hero of Ukraine, Savchenko went to the Batkivshchyna Party office. She had a 90-minute private conversation with Tymoshenko, then spoke with other lawmakers of the Batkivshchyna faction, telling them she would go into politics. In parliament, Savchenko will work on the Security and Defense Committee.
“I can tell you that a strong leader has come back home,” Tymoshenko told journalists at the airport on Savchenko’s return.
But analysts debate whether Savchenko and Tymoshenko, two strong women, both of whom have prison and hunger strikes in their past, will find common ground.
Meanwhile, several politicians from other factions have proposed alliances with her.
Yegor Sobolev, a lawmaker from the Samopomich party, said he wished to join forces with Savchenko against Poroshenko.
“This deceitful and greedy puppet of a kleptocracy lost his right to rule our state a long time ago,” Sobolev wrote of Poroshenko on Facebook on May 25. “We need to completely demolish the kleptocracy, which has successfully survived two revolutions… I hope I’ll pursue this cause together with Nadiya Savchenko.”
Volodymyr Parasyuk, an opposition-minded nationalist lawmaker, said he is ready to cooperate with Savchenko, seeing her as “independent leader.”
“Our president is likely unhappy that she’s been released,” Parasyuk said. “He was likely afraid (to broker her release earlier) because a serious confrontation could have happened after Nadiya saw what’s going on in the country.”
Fesenko believes Savchenko will receive offers to either lead a new party or a “militaristic-patriotic” group. The radical patriotic forces now lack a charismatic and strong leader and may see Savchenko in the role.
“She is seen as a Ukrainian Amazon,” Fesenko said.
Many in Ukrainian society indeed see Savchenko as a Ukrainian symbol of anti-Russian resistance and a potential new leader of the country. But entering the lions’ den of Ukrainian politics, Savchenko, who has no political experience, may face her most difficult challenge yet.
“I think entering the Ukrainian politics will be a more difficult and dramatic challenge for her than a Russian prison,” Fesenko said.
