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Lawyer Says Deal Struck For Savchenko's Return To Ukraine


Former Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko is questioned in a court in the Russian city of Donetsk on February 3.
Former Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko is questioned in a court in the Russian city of Donetsk on February 3.

The lead defense lawyer for Ukrainian pilot and Verkhovna Rada deputy Nadia Savchenko says Russia and Ukraine have agreed to the conditions of her return to Ukraine.

Lawyer Mark Feigin told Ukraine's Channel 5 television on February 5 that Savchenko, 34, will be convicted "toward the end of February" on charges that she directed artillery fire in a 2014 incident in which two Russian journalists were killed.

Savchenko says she was kidnapped in Ukraine before being taken for trial in Russia's Rostov region.

Feigin said that after she is convicted, it has been agreed that she will be turned over to Ukraine. He said her trial in Russia was "political and propagandistic."

Savchenko has been on a hunger strike since December 17 and is reportedly suffering health complications.

Based on reporting by Channel 5

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