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Ukrainian Pilot Savchenko Requests More Balanced Diet From Russian Jailers


Handcuffed Ukrainian military pilot Nadia Savchenko reacts inside a defendants' cage during a court hearing in Moscow on March 4.
Handcuffed Ukrainian military pilot Nadia Savchenko reacts inside a defendants' cage during a court hearing in Moscow on March 4.

Jailed Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko has indicated she is ready to start eating a more "balanced" diet in Russian detention after announcing earlier she was ending the hunger strike she had been on for more than 80 days.

Savchenko's lawyer Mark Feigin said on March 6 his client was asking to be given fruit juice and vegetable and fruit puree rather than broth, which was her initial request after breaking her fast the previous day.

A hand-written note from Savchenko, posted by Feigin on his Twitter account, shows the jailed pilot saying she was making the request for a more substantial diet after "doctors from Ukraine" advised her not to eat broth.

Savchenko says she was kidnapped by Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine in June and illegally transferred to Russia, where she has been charged with complicity in the killing of two journalists who died covering the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Russia has rejected repeated Western calls for the release of Savchenko, who began a hunger strike on December 13.

Based on AP, AFP, Interfax, and RFE/RL

RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.

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