The mother of Nadezhda Savchenko, a Ukrainian helicopter pilot who was captured by pro-Russia militants in June 2014, is pleading for help in convincing Russian President Vladimir Putin to release her daughter. The 33-year-old pilot has been jailed for nearly a year on charges that she took part in an attack in which two Russian journalists were killed. Maria Savchenko began by appealing to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and will be in New York City at the U.N. this week to seek help in obtaining her daughter’s release. She reportedly contends that her daughter is a political prisoner and that Russian authorities have been able to present “no evidence” that her daughter was actually involved in the attack. “I’m a desperate mother who is ready to travel the globe to make everything possible that my message be heard,” the 78-year-old Savchenko reportedly said.
Read the full story at the Associated Press.
