Poroshenko offers Moscow a prisoner swap: Savchenko for Ukraine's 2 Russian ‘terrorists’

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is asking Russia to exchange Nadiya Savchenko for two Russian citizens. Earlier today in Russia, Savchenko was convicted of supplying the Ukrainian army with coordinates in an attack that killed two Russian journalists. A judge sentenced her to 22 years in prison. Poroshenko didn't name the two Russian prisoners he is proposing to swap for Savchenko, but he appears to have in mind Alexander Alexandrov and Evgeny Evrofeev, who are currently in jail in Ukraine facing terrorism charges. 

According to Poroshenko, Putin promised during last year's Minsk negotiations that Russia would turn over Savchenko to Ukrainian officials after her trial.

Poroshenko called Savchenko's trial a “shameful kangaroo court that the aggressor-country has staged against a true officer of Ukraine,” vowing never to recognize the guilty verdict, which the Ukrainian president compared to the Soviet terror of Joseph Stalin and Andrey Vyshinsky.

Poroshenko also called for international sanctions targeting Russian individuals involved in Savchenko's apprehension and prosecution, as well as the individuals involved in other high-profile cases against “Ukrainian patriot-hostages,” such as Oleg Sentsov.