Russian police launch criminal case against Nadezhda Savchenko’s sister

Russian police have opened a criminal case against Vera Savchenko, the sister of Nadezhda Savchenko, the Ukrainian soldier now on trial in Russia for allegedly aiding and abetting the murder of Russian journalists and illegally crossing the border into Russia.

According to Mark Feygin, Nadezhda Savchenko’s lawyer, the case was opened on October 28, when Vera attended a trial in Russia where two Ukrainian citizens, Nikolai Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh, are accused of participating in the Chechen War on the side of the rebels. Their case is being considered by Chechnya’s Supreme Court.

Feygin published a document on Twitter showing a bailiff’s signature, claiming that Vera Savchenko systematically disrupted the court’s proceedings, shouting “unsanctioned speeches” from her seat, ignoring the judge’s reprimands, undermining the court’s authority, and interfering with the trial’s “full and objective assessment of the truth.”

When the judge asked bailiffs to remove Savchenko from the courtroom, she reportedly told him, “You’re not a judge—you’re a dickhead.”

Nadezhda Savchenko maintains her innocence in the deaths of Russian reporters Anton Boloshin and Igor Kornelyuk. She also says she didn’t cross into Russia willingly, but was abducted by separatists and transferred to Russia. Russian investigators say she made the trip on her own.

Nikolai Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh are accused too murder, attempted murder, and membership in a criminal gang. Federal investigators say they fought alongside rebels in the Chechen War in the 1990s, killing at least 30 Russian servicemen. Karpyuk and Klykh have refused to plead guilty.