Europe

Lawyer: Groundwork being laid for possible Savchenko swap

Associated Press
Published | Updated

FILE - In this Monday, March 21, 2016 file photo, Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko smiles to journalists from a glass-covered cage in court in Donetsk, Rostov-on-Don region, Russia. A lawyer for one of two Russian servicemen jailed in Ukraine says the groundwork is being laid for a possible exchange with Savchenko, who is imprisoned in Russia. Lawyer Valentin Rybin told the state news agency Tass on Wednesday, May 25, 2016, that both Russians have submitted a petition for a pardon to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016 file photo, Russian soldiers, Capt. Yevgeny Yerofeyev, left, and Sgt. Alexander Alexandrov, captured while fighting in war-torn eastern Ukraine, sit in a cage during a trial hearing at the Holosiivskyi District Court in Kiev, Ukraine. A lawyer for one of the two Russian servicemen jailed in Ukraine says the groundwork is being laid for a possible exchange with Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, who is imprisoned in Russia. Lawyer Valentin Rybin told the state news agency Tass on Wednesday, May 25, 2016, that both Russians have submitted a petition for a pardon to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.(AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov, File) (The Associated Press)

Ukrainian jailed pilot Nadezhda Savchenko speaks to the media upon her arrival at Boryspil airport outside Kiev, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 25, 2016. Russia has released jailed pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, as part of a swap for two Russian servicemen imprisoned in Ukraine. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) (The Associated Press)

A lawyer for one of two Russian servicemen jailed in Ukraine says the groundwork is being laid for a possible exchange with Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, who is imprisoned in Russia.

Lawyer Valentin Rybin told the state news agency Tass on Wednesday that both Russians have submitted a petition for a pardon to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

He said the same procedure is underway in Russia regarding Savchenko and the outcome will be clear by evening.

One of Savchenko's lawyers, Mark Feygin, said Tuesday that he was trying to persuade Savchenko to file a petition for pardon.

Savchenko was captured by Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and sentenced in March to 22 years in prison for her alleged role in the deaths of two Russian journalists.