Leonid Bershidsky: Putin lost out in prisoner swap with Ukraine
Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, who was freed from jail in Russia as part of a prisoner exchange, talks to the media upon arrival at Kiev's Boryspil airport on May 25, 2016.
When a Russian court sentenced the Ukrainian helicopter pilot Nadiya Savchenko to 22 years in prison in March, she let loose an attack against President Vladimir Putin's "totalitarian regime," jumped up on a bench and shook her middle finger at the judge. It was clear to her, her lawyers, the prosecutor and the judge that she'd never do the time: She'd be traded. On Wednesday, she was, simultaneously bringing to a close two plot lines in the painful, messy story of the conflict in eastern Ukraine and illustrating the stark difference between the two post-Soviet regimes.
