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Russian Lawyer Reveals Savchenko Prison Swap Deal Reached

© Sputnik / Mikhail Voskresenskiy / Go to the mediabankCourt considers appeal on cosolidation of two Savchenko cases
Court considers appeal on cosolidation of two Savchenko cases - Sputnik International
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The lawyer for a Russian national serving a prison sentence in Ukraine, Alexander Aleksandrov, announced that a prison swap involving his client and another jailed Russian national, Yevgeni Yerofeev, in exchange for Ukrainian Nadezhda Savchenko, who is serving 22 years in Russia, has begun.

Former Ukrainian army pilot Nadezhda Savchenko looks out from a glass-walled cage as she attends a court hearing in the southern border town of Donetsk in Rostov region, Russia, in this file picture taken March 9, 2016 - Sputnik International
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KIEV (Sputnik) Aleksandrov and Yerofeev were each given 14-year jail terms by a Ukrainian court after being convicted of fighting on the side of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic in the country’s east. Aleksandrov’s defense attorney Valentin Rybin told RIA Novosti early on Wednesday that his defendant had filed a mercy petition with the office of the Ukrainian president.

"You watch the decision. This is the decision of the question of what is going on now, this is what was agreed upon," Valentin Rybin told RIA Novosti.

When asked to specify if this meant that Savchenko was being swapped for the two Russians, Rybin said, "Yes, that’s how it is."

This appears to be at odds with what is known to the Russian presidential office, whose press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters at Wednesday’s regular briefing that he had "no information" regarding the alleged swap plans.

The 34-year-old Ukrainian was sentenced in March by a Russian court for her part in the killing of Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine. She said she would not appeal the ruling.

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