Ukrainian politician Nadiya Savchenko has? spoken to the BBC? about her time in a Russian prison.?
The former pilot said her pardon from Russian President Vladimir Putin — described by the Kremlin as an “act of humanism” ?€” was a cynical move.
?€?I was kidnapped. They tried to break me. And he [Putin] talks about an act of humanism? The fact that the president is trying to show himself as a peacemaker and do-gooder is vile hypocrisy, false and base,?€? said Savchenko.
After being found guilty of involvement in the murder of two Russian journalists during the conflict in east Ukraine, Savchenko was sentenced by a Russian court to 22 years in prison on March 21.
She was freed on May 25 in exchange for two Russian soldiers ?€” Alexander Alexandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev ?€” captured in eastern Ukraine.
Her detention was condemned by world leaders and human rights groups, and Savchenko herself spent long periods in jail on hunger strike.
?€?It was easier not to eat, than to eat, and the guards could not understand that. It frightened them. But at least I was fighting the enemy somehow, and that fight gave me strength,?€? she told the BBC. ?€?These days, the Ukrainian people need heroes.?€?
On returning to Kiev, Savchenko joined the Ukrainian parliament's National Security and Defense Committee as a member of the Batkivshchyna Party. She has proposed talks with pro-Russian rebels, but has also said that she would return to the battlefield if needed.