Savchenko ready to become Ukraine’s president if people want it

Nadiya Savchenko file photo, adapted from image at osce.usmission.gov

KYIV. May 27 (Interfax) – Nadiya Savchenko said she was ready to become Ukraine’s president if citizens of the country wanted it.

“Ukrainians, if you want me to become the president, I will be the president,” Savchenko said at a press conference in Kyiv on Friday.

Savchenko also said she was not sure that “people have already learned not to vote in exchange for [free] buckwheat.”

Savchenko also said that she would like to resume her service in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but that she would work where it was necessary for the country.

“I would like to fly, but I will do what is useful for Ukraine. It is of no difference where one defends Ukraine […]. If necessary, I will do it on the battlefield,” Savchenko said after being asked whether she would go into politics or would return to the Armed Forces.

Savchenko also said she was ready to take part in negotiations on securing the release of Ukrainians currently in captivity.

“I […] am ready to talk to the devil himself if it helps. That is why I am not rejecting any mechanisms. They say that it is necessary to do this politically, without engaging with the separatists. I do not think so […] I will engage with anyone,” she said.

Savchenko also spoke out in favor of establishing an international committee on returning the occupied territories of Ukraine.

“I want to somehow form an international committee on these issues […]. It is one of the methods,” she said.

Savchenko also she was convinced that “the Ukrainian people and the armed forces were able to put up armed resistance” in 2014, when Crimea’s reconnection with Russia took place.

“As for how [Crimea] should be returned, it was necessary not to give Crimea away by way of war. There was a certain period when we needed to go and defend our land. But we missed it. Why did we miss it? It is a separate question,” she said.

When commenting on the situation with elections in Donbas districts not controlled by Kyiv, Savchenko said: “The elections cannot take place now because the Ukrainian border is not closed.”

“If we, the Ukrainians, were alone, we would reach mutual understanding. But we have a multitude of advisors, and they will not allow us to think for ourselves. The elections will be impossible until we, the Ukrainians, start to think and make our own decisions,” she said.

Savchenko also said she did not think the Minsk agreements on settling the armed conflict in the south-east of Ukraine were effective enough, but said that they “put out the flame that was burning in Donbas at that time, and shelling has declined thanks to the Minsk process.”

Around 100 MPs and Savchenko’s supporters gathered in the street near Ukraine Palace, where Savchenko was giving her press conference, an Interfax correspondent reported. These people were able to watch the broadcast on a large TV screen installed in the street.

More than 200 representatives of Ukrainian and foreign media, as well as 100 TV cameras, were present in the palace’s minor hall, which hosted Savchenko’s press conference.

Comment