A day after news broke of Nadiya Savchenko’s secret meeting with the leaders of Russian-backed armed groups in the Donbas, the Batkivshchyna Party announced the lawmaker had left their ranks.
It was no coincidence: Savchenko had offered her resignation to the Batkivshchyna Party several weeks ago, but the party only announced it Dec. 12, when Savchenko was facing public criticism for meeting with the leaders of the Donbas armed groups – people the Ukrainian government, and Savchenko’s own party, brand “terrorists.”
Tatyana Protorchenko, Savchenko’s spokesperson confirmed to the Kyiv Post that the lawmaker had actually left the party several weeks ago, at the end of October.
“Nadiya still remains in the faction. Soon she will start her career as an independent lawmaker,” said Protorchenko.
After the reports of Savchenko’s secret meeting with separatists’ leaders from Donetsk and Luhansk appeared in the media late on Dec.11, the Batkivshchyna Party said in a statement that the lawmaker was no longer coordinating her actions with the party.
“The BatkivshchynaParty and faction condemn Russian aggression and criticize any negotiations with terrorists,” read the statement, which was published on Batkivschyna’s website on Dec. 12
Protorchenko told the Kyiv Post that Savchenko would now be concentrating her political activity on her own“civil platform,” but revealed no more details.
On the news that Savchenko was leaving the Batkivshchyna Party, speculation arose over her future in parliament – both in the National Security and Defense committee in which she works, and the faction to which she belongs.
Batkivshchyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko told Ukraine’s 112 television channel on Dec. 12 that Savchenko could be expelled from the Batkivshchyna faction as well.
“Savchenko can plan her life and political activity however she likes. She has nothing in common with the Batkivshchyna Party,” Tymoshenko said.
“Moreover, we decided to initiate a faction meeting on the very first day of the next parliament week (Dec.20). We decided to call Savchenko to that meeting to talk, and to take a decision,” Tymoshenko added.
Savchenko was elected to parliament in absentia – she was number one on the Batkivshchyna Party election list -while she was illegally imprisoned in Russia in 2014. She was also made a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe – a status that granted her immunity from prosecution, and effectively rendered her prosecution by the Russian courts illegitimate.
Political analyst Taras Berezovets told the Kyiv Post that Batkivshchyna had decided to reveal the fact that Savchenko had left the party after her meeting with the leaders of the Russian-backed armed groups in the Donbas in order to limit damage to the party’s reputation.
The expert also said Tymoshenko would go all out to expel Savchenko from the faction as well, as she (Tymoshenko) has a “unique political intuition” and understands that Savchenko could be damaging to her own rating.
“Even if Savchenko is expelled from faction she won’t lose her lawmaker’s status. She will continue to work in the Rada as an independent lawmaker, unless she chooses to quit voluntarily, according to the law,” said Berezovets.
