Ukrainian Pilot Held In Russia To Represent Parliament In PACE

Detained Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko in a Moscow court on November 11

Ukrainian politician Yulia Tymoshenko says Nadiya Savchenko, a military pilot who is in Russian custody, will represent her country's parliament in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

Tymoshenko, a former prime minister who heads the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party, made the statement at a November 21 ceremony in which pro-Western parties in the Verkhovna Rada initialed a coalition agreement.

Savchenko, a member of Tymoshenko's party, is being held in Russia on charges of complicity in the deaths of two Russian journalists during the conflict between government forces and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Savchenko says she was captured by separatists on June 18 and illegally transferred to Russian custody in July.

Russian Investigators have said she was detained on Russian soil.

She won a seat in Ukraine's parliament last month.

Based on reporting by UNIAN and pravda.ua.com