Ukraine’s former military pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, who was freed after two years in Russian prison and is now member of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada, was given the charge of national security issues, a member of parliament said on Tuesday.
Ivan Krulko, an MP from the Batkivshchina (Fatherland) faction, said Savchenko was elected to the Rada from Batkivshchina, Tass news reported.
“She will join the Verkhovna Rada National Security and Defense Committee,” he said. Savchenko on Tuesday appeared at the parliament meeting. The former military servicewoman said a few words of gratitude to those who contributed to her release and urged not to forget those who died in Donbass. Savchenko on the sidelines of parliament accused her new colleagues of inactivity.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian social media have rather ambiguously taken Savchenko’s first appearance in parliament, especially her singing during which she mixed up the anthem words. On March 22, 2016, a court in Russia’s southern Rostov region found Savchenko guilty of directing the pro-Kiev forces’ artillery fire in southeast Ukraine that had killed two Russian journalists.