Monday, May 2, 2016

Kiev’s ‘Joan of Arc’ tipped for president after release from jail

Mark Franchetti, Moscow 

She defiantly told the judge at her Russian trial that she would return home to Ukraine dead or alive.
As the helicopter pilot Nadia Savchenko prepares to walk free from prison, her compatriots are preparing to celebrate the return of a national heroine some are tipping to be Ukraine’s next president.
“Everyone’s manoeuvring to get close to Savchenko,” said a former adviser to the Ukrainian government. “Given her unique standing with the people, she’s political gold dust.”


Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president, negotiated her release with Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart, as part of a prisoner exchange.

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