The Russian Justice Ministry has received documents requesting the extradition of former Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, the RBC news agency reported Wednesday, citing Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov.
The documents are now being checked, Konovalov told journalists at the ongoing St. Petersburg International Legal Forum.
Konovalov said that the extradition procedure for Russian soldiers Alexander Alexandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeev, who were supposed to be exchanged for Savchenko, had not yet begun.
"[The soldiers] have to express their desire to be extradited and write a message. No such messages have been received yet," he said, RBC reported.
Savchenko was given a prison sentence of 22 years by a court in Rostov on charges of involvement in the killing of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine. Alexandrov and Yerofeyev were sentenced to 14 years by a court in Kiev for “participation in armed aggression against Ukraine” in the Donbass region.