Poroshenko Confirms Savchenko Release Tackled Before Normandy Talks

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Sunday confirmed that the repatriation of Ukrainian national Nadezhda Savchenko, who was in custody in Russia, was agreed before a Monday conversation between the leaders of the Normandy Four, comprising Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine.

KIEV (Sputnik) — On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to pardon Savchenko who was convicted in Russia of being an accomplice to the murder of two Russian journalists in Donbas. Soon after that, reports that the decision was made during the recent talks of the Normandy Quartet.

"The issue was tackled a bit earlier [than the negotiations between the leaders occurred]," Poroshenko said in an interview with the Ukrainian Inter TV Channel, answering a corresponding question.

Soon after the pardoning, Savchenko was delivered to Kiev. On the same day, a plane carrying Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Alexander Alexandrov, Russian citizens convicted and sentenced in Ukraine for terrorism-related activities landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo Internatinal Airport, after Poroshenko signed a corresponding decree to pardon them.