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| Ukrainian pilot Savchenko pardoned by Putin, swapped for 2 Russians | Ukrainian pilot Savchenko pardoned by Putin, swapped for 2 Russians |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| An aircraft with Russian citizens Evgeny Erofeev and Aleksandr Aleksandrov, who were swapped for Ukraine’s Nadezhda Savchenko, has landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport. Savchenko was pardoned by President Putin on Wednesday. | An aircraft with Russian citizens Evgeny Erofeev and Aleksandr Aleksandrov, who were swapped for Ukraine’s Nadezhda Savchenko, has landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport. Savchenko was pardoned by President Putin on Wednesday. |
| Follow RT's LIVE UPDATES on Savchenko swap | Follow RT's LIVE UPDATES on Savchenko swap |
| President Putin signed a decree pardoning Nadezhda Savchenko on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that the Russian leader signed the document simultaneously with the arrival of Erofeev and Aleksandrov in Moscow. | President Putin signed a decree pardoning Nadezhda Savchenko on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that the Russian leader signed the document simultaneously with the arrival of Erofeev and Aleksandrov in Moscow. |
| Meanwhile, Savchenko has already been delivered to Kiev on a Ukrainian plane, Peskov said. | Meanwhile, Savchenko has already been delivered to Kiev on a Ukrainian plane, Peskov said. |
| In March, a Russian court found Ukrainian pilot Savchenko guilty of murdering Russian journalists Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin near Lugansk, in eastern Ukraine, and of illegally crossing the Russian border. According to prosecutors, she relayed the coordinates of a checkpoint where the two reporters were subsequently killed by Ukrainian Aidar Battalion artillery fire near the town of Metalist in June 2014. The attack also resulted in the deaths of Ukrainian civilians. Afterwards, Savchenko illegally crossed the border into Russia. | In March, a Russian court found Ukrainian pilot Savchenko guilty of murdering Russian journalists Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin near Lugansk, in eastern Ukraine, and of illegally crossing the Russian border. According to prosecutors, she relayed the coordinates of a checkpoint where the two reporters were subsequently killed by Ukrainian Aidar Battalion artillery fire near the town of Metalist in June 2014. The attack also resulted in the deaths of Ukrainian civilians. Afterwards, Savchenko illegally crossed the border into Russia. |
| Russian citizens Evgeny Erofeev and Aleksandr Aleksandrov were sentenced in Ukraine in April to 14 years in prison after a district court in Kiev found them guilty of terrorist activities. | Russian citizens Evgeny Erofeev and Aleksandr Aleksandrov were sentenced in Ukraine in April to 14 years in prison after a district court in Kiev found them guilty of terrorist activities. |
| Both Erofeev and Aleksandrov denied the crimes they are accused of. The two men were captured in Donbass in May 2015, with Kiev claiming they were Russian servicemen. The Russian Defense Ministry officially denied the allegations, stating that neither Erofeev nor Aleksandrov were serving in the Russian Army at that time. | |
| When the aircraft with Aleksandr Aleksandrov and Evgeny Erofeev landed in Moscow, their wives, Ekaterina and Yulia, were there to meet them. | |
| “We were waiting for them, we were very worried and hoped for their return,” Yulia Erofeeva said. | |
| It has been revealed that in March relatives of Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin addressed President Vladimir Putin with a plea to pardon Nadezhda Savchenko. | It has been revealed that in March relatives of Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin addressed President Vladimir Putin with a plea to pardon Nadezhda Savchenko. |
| President Putin met with Igor Kornelyuk’s widow, Ekaterina, and Anton Voloshin’s sister, Maryana, on Wednesday to personally express gratitude for their position. | President Putin met with Igor Kornelyuk’s widow, Ekaterina, and Anton Voloshin’s sister, Maryana, on Wednesday to personally express gratitude for their position. |
| “I want to thank you for your position and express hope that such a decision, motivated by humanitarian considerations in the first place, will lead to a de-escalation of the confrontation in a certain conflict zone and will help to avoid similar terrible and needless losses. Thank you very much,” Putin told the relatives of the dead journalists. | “I want to thank you for your position and express hope that such a decision, motivated by humanitarian considerations in the first place, will lead to a de-escalation of the confrontation in a certain conflict zone and will help to avoid similar terrible and needless losses. Thank you very much,” Putin told the relatives of the dead journalists. |