Here's the latest on Savchenko from our news desk:
Russian Court Finds Savchenko Guilty Of Complicity To Murder
A court in Russia's southern region of Rostov has found the Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko guilty of complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine in 2014, Russian news agencies reported.
A judge at the Donetsk city court who began reading the verdict on March 21 was quoted as saying Savchenko was driven by "hatred."
The ruling will not be official until the judge finishes reading it, but his wording strongly indicated that the court accepted the prosecution's accusations -- essentially a guilty verdict.
Prosecutors want Savchenko, who denies the charges, sent to prison for 23 years.
The case has sparked outrage in Ukraine and elsewhere, with critics accusing the Kremlin of orchestrating a show trial.
Savchenko has remained defiant since court proceedings began in September 2015 in the small Russian town of Donetsk near the border with Ukraine.
She has gone on hunger strike to protest her detention.
Savchenko says she was seized in eastern Ukraine in June 2014, while fighting with a volunteer battalion against Russia-backed separatists, and taken to Russia illegally.
She was accused of acting as a spotter who called in coordinates for a mortar attack that killed two Russian journalists.
Based on reporting by AFP, AP, Reuters, TASS, and Interfax
Buzzfeed has published a pretty extensive interview with the United Kingdom's ambassador to Ukraine, Judith Gough, who is openly gay. Here's an excerpt:
After more than a decade in the diplomatic service, last year Gough accepted the ambassadorship in Kiev. Was taking a posting in Ukraine, a country beset by anti-gay sentiment and laws, a difficult decision?
“You weigh it up,” she says. “Can my partner work there? Will my children be happy there? Can I exist within that framework in a way that is comfortable for me and my family?”
She adds that the Foreign Office is “pretty good” at providing local information about a post beforehand, and the in-house LGBT staff association, FLAGG, is “excellent at supporting officers”.
However, the situation in Ukraine for LGBT people remains hostile. There are no laws allowing any form of partnership between people of the same sex and no opportunity for gay couples to adopt. Pride marches have been banned or marred by violence and arrests. Surveys have shown negative attitudes towards LGBT people among the majority of the population. And in the last two years there have been neo-Nazi attacks on gay venues using firecrackers and smoke grenades. Some activists have said the situation is worsening. But is it?
“For LGBT people in Ukraine it is not easy,” she says. “If you look at the level of violence against gay people, there are frequent incidents. And there are very few clear Ukrainian role models. Whether the level of violence has increased or whether the reporting of violence has increased is not clear.”
She starts to talk about some of the LGBT activists on the ground. She speaks of their courage, the “huge personal risk” they take, and mentions the most well-known campaigner, Bogdan Globa, whose address to the Ukrainian parliament in 2013 about LGBT rights and the need for anti-discrimination laws was the first of its kind.
Globa appealed to the somewhat startled besuited politicians on political and pragmatic grounds, but also through a personal plea. He described what life was like for him as a gay teenager in Ukraine. “I was bullied and abused in school,” he said. “I was beaten and chased by older guys. I got driven from my own family because my parents thought that I was ill. I found the strength and courage to go through it, and today I use every opportunity to openly and honestly talk about it.”
“Bogdan has done great things,” says Gough. “As a gay man, standing there and addressing parliament was fantastic.”
Last year Globa told BuzzFeed News at a meeting at the Elton John Aids Foundation that Russia’s annexation of Crimea has been partly responsible for an increase in anti-gay violence in Ukraine. He showed footage of thugs storming a gay club – he believes they were put up to it by Putin’s government.
He also played a video of what appeared to be a fake gay pride parade, with what he said were actors carrying rainbow flags and EU flags. It was a stunt, he said, choreographed by Russia to entwine gay rights with the EU in the minds of Ukrainians – an attempt to trigger anti-EU sentiment through homophobia.
But Gough will not be drawn on who is responsible. “It’s very hard to attribute homophobia to any particular force or individual,” she says. “I think what you can say is that there have been those who have politicised LGBT issues as a reason for Ukraine not to have a closer relationship with Europe.”
Read the entire article here
Good morning. We'll start the live blog this week with this Nadia Savchenko update from RFE/RL's news desk:
Verdict Due In Savchenko Case
A Russian court is due on March 21 to begin delivering its verdict in the case against the Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko.
Savchenko is accused of involvement in the killing of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine in 2014, charges she denies.
Prosecutors want Savchenko sent to prison for 23 years.
The case has sparked outrage in Ukraine and elsewhere, with critics accusing the Kremlin of orchestrating a show trial.
Savchenko has remained defiant since court proceedings began in September 2015 in the small Russian town of Donetsk near the border with Ukraine.
She has gone on hunger strike to protest her detention.
On March 9, the judge wrapped up the trial and announced the reading of the verdict would begin on March 21 and take two days.
Savchenko says she was seized in eastern Ukraine in June 2014, while fighting with a volunteer battalion against Russia-backed separatists, and taken to Russia illegally.
She was accused of acting as a spotter who called in coordinates for a mortar attack that killed two Russian journalists.
The Ukrainian government says Savchenko was abducted by the Russians and should be treated as a prisoner of war.
The European Union and the United States have led international calls for her release.
"During the past 20 months, she has become a symbol of Ukrainian national pride and strength," U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement on March 8.
A spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry said on March 9 that Russia had not held discussions on handing over Savchenko to Ukraine and would not do so until the court announces its verdict.
Savchenko has been held in custody in Russia since July 2014. Her trial began on September 22, 2015.
More than 50 members of the European Parliament on March 8 signed a letter calling for sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and 28 other individuals in connection with Savchenko's "illegal" detention.
Konstantin Kosachyov, head of the International Affairs Committee in Russia’s upper house of parliament, said on March 9 that the letter amounts to illegal pressure on a Russian court.
With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters
This ends our live blogging for March 20. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (click to enlarge):
