Introduction by New Cold War.org, Sept 22, 2015

Two news reports are enclosed concerning the opening of the trial in Russia of Nadiya Savchenko, a member of an extremist paramilitary unit in Ukraine who was arrested in Russia in June 2014. She is accused of directing artillery fire at civilians in the Donetsk region which killed two Russian journalists and six other civilians.

The enclosed news reports are from The Guardian and Associated Press. Western press is near-to universal in falsely describing Nadiya Savchenko as a “pilot” in the Ukrainian armed forces or a member of a “Ukrainian forces” or a “volunteer battalion”.

Savchenko was once a member of the Ukrainian armed forces, receiving training as a pilot. She quit the armed forces in spring 2014 because she wanted Ukraine to go to war with Russia. She joined the extreme-right paramilitary ‘Aidar Battalion’ in order to further that goal and was detained and arrested in Russia in that capacity.

In the enclosed Guardian article, writer Alec Luhn muses whether the two Russian journalists who were killed “took the proper safety precautions”! He does not ask after the legality or morality of Ukrainian armed forces and extremist paramilitary forces shelling and waging civil war against the the people of eastern Ukraine.

Radio Free Europe broadcasts a brief video of Savchenko speaking to her trial court yesterday.

Trial of Ukrainian pilot [sic] accused of murdering Russian journalists begins

By Alec Luhn, The Guardian, Sept 22, 2015

The murder trial of Ukrainian pilot [sic] Nadiya Savchenko has begun despite international condemnation and accusations that the charges have been fabricated for political purposes.

Savchenko – the best known Ukrainian citizen currently being held in Russia – is accused of directing artillery fire that killed two Russian journalists, Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, during fighting in eastern Ukraine. She faces 25 years in prison on charges of murder, attempted murder and illegally crossing the border.

Savchenko and some western countries have said she should be considered a prisoner of war. The parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe approved Savchenko as a member of the Ukrainian delegation in January, a position that entitles her to international immunity from prosecution.

Prosecutors at the trial in Donetsk in the Rostov region of Russia said on Tuesday that Savchenko, the first female military pilot in post-Soviet Ukraine, was working as a spotter for Ukrainian forces near Luhansk in June 2014. Motivated by “hatred and hostility towards … the civilian population of Luhansk region”, they said she called in an artillery strike on a rebel checkpoint where civilians and journalists were present. Investigators have claimed she was later detained after she crossed into Russia as a refugee without documents.

Savchenko has denied the charges and said she was captured by rebels in June 2014 and handed over to Russian authorities. Dressed in a Ukrainian folk costume and looking healthier than after her 80-day hunger strike earlier this year, Savchenko told the court that her case had been fabricated by the investigative committee.

“Never in my life have I fired at unarmed people. I have never been a spotter,” she told the court. At one point she said “Glory to Ukraine”, a rallying cry often heard during the protests that ousted the former president Viktor Yanukovych and during the ensuing conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Savchenko spoke and gestured to her sister, Vera, through the glass of the dock. Only Russian state television journalists were allowed into the courtroom, with the rest having to watch the proceedings on a live video feed.

Irina Voloshina, Voloshin’s widow, testified via videolink, but could offer little detail about whether her husband took the proper safety precautions.

Savchenko told Voloshin’s father, who also testified, that she did not kill his son but was sorry for his loss. “Our guys also died,” she said.

High-profile trial of Ukrainian officer begins in Russia

Associated Press, Sep. 22, 2015

MOSCOW–— A Russian court on Tuesday began hearing the high-profile case against a Ukrainian officer [sic] who is charged in the deaths of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine. Nadezhda Savchenko denied the charges, telling the court “I am a soldier, not a murderer,” according to the Tass news agency.

In Washington, the U.S. State Department urged Russia to drop what it described as a “baseless case” against Savchenko.

Russian investigators allege that Savchenko, who served in a volunteer battalion [sic] fighting alongside government troops against Russia-backed rebels, provided the coordinates for a mortar attack that killed the journalists in June 2014.

Savchenko, who lawyers say was captured by the rebels and smuggled across the border into Russia, also is charged with entering Russia illegally. Charges of attempted murder in relation to six Ukrainian citizens were also added to the case.

Prosecutors told the court on Tuesday that Savchenko intentionally targeted the journalists and other civilians, while the defense insisted the journalists were killed during an attack on separatist fighters, Russian news agencies reported.

“I didn’t see journalists,” Tass quoted Savchenko as saying. “I have never in my life shot at unarmed people. I am a soldier, not a murderer.”

Savchenko, who spent 83 days on a hunger strike to protest her detention, has become a hero figure for Ukrainians fighting the separatists [sic] and has won a seat in Parliament. Ukrainian officials have campaigned for her release and have been backed by the U.S. and the European Union.

“The United States remains deeply disturbed by the Russian Federation’s decision to move forward with this baseless case,” U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters in Washington Tuesday. He urged Russia to dismiss the charges immediately and return Savchenko to her Ukrainian home.

The trial is being held in the small southern Russian town of Donetsk, which has the same name as the Ukrainian city that is the main rebel stronghold. Reporters and photographers were barred from the courtroom and watched the proceedings by video link.

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Note on Nadiya Savchenko, by New Cold War.org:

The New Cold War.org website contains extensive reporting on the case of Aidar Battalion extremist Nadiya Savchenko. Do a search using the website search engine to find a full dossier on her detention and arrest in June 2014 and her ongoing criminal trial in Russia. Russian journalists Igor Kornelyuk and (sound engineer) Anton Voloshin were killed by Ukrainian mortar fire on June 17, 2014. Cameraman Viktor Denisov miraculously survived. Savchenko is also accused of directing artillery fire which killed six other civilians.