Savchenko is currently in pre-trial detention in Russia as a suspected accomplice in the killing of two Russian journalists during the earlier stages of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
"But it is a Pandora's box," Romanovich said, commenting on the demands to release Savchenko on the grounds that she has parliamentary immunity.
"We are going to end up with members of our parliamentary assembly who are subject to serious judicial sentences and have been found guilty," he stressed.
Earlier in the day, Austrian PACE delegate and chair of the PACE monitoring committee, Stefan Schennach told Sputnik that PACE delegates had requested Russia’s permission to visit Savchenko at her detention facility.
“I talked to the president of the Duma and this was one of my main topics that we must have a chance — Madame Brasseur [Anne Brasseur, President of PACE], [and] the head of the monitoring committee, to speak with Madam Nadia Savchenko in prison immediately and then we have to find a solution," Schennach said.
Meanwhile, head of the Russian delegation to PACE Alexei Pushkov told Sputnik that the country’s delegation would ask the investigative bodies of the Russian Federation to provide the PACE representative the opportunity to meet with Nadezhda Savchenko, check on her health, and talk to her. Pushkov noted, however, that the delegation would go ahead with the move only in the event the delegation remains in PACE.
In spring 2014, PACE suspended the Russian delegation's voting rights in response to the country's reunification with Crimea.
The ongoing PACE plenary session is currently discussing the credentials of the Russian delegation in the assembly, including its voting rights.
