Proposed EU Sanctions Aim to Escalate Tensions With Russia - EU Lawmaker

© Sputnik / Sergey Kuznecov / Go to the mediabankUkrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko
Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko - Sputnik International
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Sanctions against Russia proposed in the European Parliament over the case involving Ukrainian national Nadezhda Savchenko, who is on trial in Russia for the murder of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine, are being used as a tool for political escalation, EU Lawmaker, Konstantinos Papadakis, told Sputnik.

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MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Tuesday, 57 members of the European Parliament directed a letter to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini calling for the imposition of sanctions against 28 Russian individuals, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, over the Savchenko case.

"Making a list of sanctions not only does not help defuse tensions but it is used by the Unites States and European Union authorities as a political tool for further escalation of contradictions that they have with Russia", Papadakis, from the Communist Party of Greece, said during an interview on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Mogherini called for Savchenko's immediate release, stating that this would be in line with Russia's human rights commitments as well as the Minsk peace agreements.

Savchenko is suspected of helping to direct artillery fire near the eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk on June 17, 2014, that led to the deaths of two Russian journalists, Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin.

Russian prosecutors are seeking a 23-year prison sentence for Savchenko. The 34-year-old Ukrainian citizen denies all allegations. A court ruling in the case is due on March 21-22.

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