Nadzhda Savchenko
Rusvesna ("Russian Spring")
Translated from Russian by Tom WinterPeople's Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Nadzhda Savchenko, who until recently was the "chief Ukrainian heroine" and the personification of the "fight against the aggressor Russia" has made a new high-profile statement that her radical siblings are unlikely to be able to forgive.
In a broadcast on Ukrainian television channels, she said that Ukrainians should apologize to the residents of Donbass.
"We may have to do it. It is not possible, but precisely. We have to learn to ask for forgiveness and to forgive, otherwise the world will not," she suddenly said.Moreover, she added, she was ready to personally apologize to the mothers of Donbass, who lost sons in the course of the so-called ATO.
Recall that the Russian court ruled earlier that Savchenko was involved in the deaths of two Russian journalists in the Lugansk Peoples Republic. The MP did not specify if she is ready to apologize to their relatives.
Most of the parties to the conflict in the Donbass on both sides should be amnestied, Ukrainian member of parliament Nadezhda Savchenko said on Ukrainian television.
"There must necessarily be an amnesty. Not for everyone - criminals must come to judgement. But most people on this side, on the other side, should really get amnesty."
Comment: It was only two months ago that Nadzhda Savchenko appeared, by all objective reason, to be so virulently 'pro-Kiev' so as to seem out of her mind. So why say these very conciliatory and peace-based statements now? Has she been touched by an angel? Religious conversion? Taken her new-found responsibility as the People's Deputy to heart and seen the light of reason? Or is this some kind of elaborate con?
See the following to get a sense of just how strange this conversion seems!
But more recently:
Kiev's sainted war hero Savchenko keeps calling for peace with the DPR and LPRRegardless for the reasons of her conversion, it seems that the backlash against Savchenko and her statements have already begun in earnest.
From the
Seattle Times:
Nadiya Savchenko, the military pilot who became a national hero when she was jailed in Russia, faced a backlash Friday for saying reconciliation was the only solution to conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Savchenko's comments irked many Ukrainian politicians, with some calling her a traitor.
"We are not going to ask occupying forces and terrorists for forgiveness," said Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the interior minister. "Now I know: it was Putin who planted her in the minds of Ukrainians as a Trojan horse."
Speaking on Ukraine's Channel 5, Savchenko said late Thursday that Ukrainians "need to ask for forgiveness" or there will be no end to the conflict in eastern Ukraine which has claimed more than 9,400 lives and displaced over a million people since it erupted in April 2014.
Savchenko fought on the government side in the war with Russia-backed rebels and was captured in June 2014. She was then put on trial in Russia for involvement in the deaths of two journalists and spent two years in prison before she was pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin and returned home to a hero's welcome in May this year.
"We need to ask for forgiveness and forgive otherwise we will never get peace," she said. "The mother on the other side who lost her only son, I'm ready to ask her to forgive me."
Fighting which has killed civilians on both sides of conflict has led Ukrainians there to call for an all-out war.
While in prison in Russia, Savchenko became the face of Ukrainian nationalism as she condemned her captors and the entire Russian state for meddling into Ukraine's affairs. She became member of parliament, and came to disagree with her nationalist supporters who advocate more force.
A government-connected spin doctor invoked the name of Alexander Zakharchenko, the Russian-backed separatist leader, to condemn Savchenko.
"It's a shame Zakharchenko is married," Taras Berezovets tweeted. "He and Nadezhda Savchenko would make a great couple.
Well-known columnist Vitaly Portnikov said on Friday in a blog post on Newsru.ua that Savchenko's remarks deflect public attention from the fact that Russia has been fomenting unrest in the east.
"It was Russia that came to our land, it was its soldiers and mercenaries who triggered fighting on our territory. And it's not us who should apologize to the residents of Donetsk and Luhansk," Portnikov said. "The only thing we're guilty of is that we have not liberated the land from the hordes of the enemy."
A recent survey by the Sofiya polling agency showed Savchenko get nearly 11 percent of the vote if she was to run for president, compared to 13 percent for front-runner Yulia Tymoshenko. President Petro Poroshenko's rating was 11 percent. Over 2,000 people were polled in late June-early July this survey with the margin of error 2.2 percent.
How could even such a harden heart not be touched by the family of the 2 reporters who asked she be freed? And Russia, who she considered her arch enemy, showing the same. Love indeed conquers all.