The Ukrainian Justice Ministry has sent a request for the extradition of Nadia Savchenko to the Russian Justice Ministry, but other mechanisms of her repatriation are also possible, Ukrainian Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko has said.

When asked by Interfax on Thursday if the request has already been sent and how soon Savchenko could return to Ukraine, Petrenko said: "We have sent [the extradition request] and are currently conducting communications."

"We are not ruling out that there might be other mechanisms for her return."

He said there are several mechanisms: "This mechanism is for not wasting time, because it is fairly bureaucratic, and like I said already, a return under the Convention involves certain bureaucratic procedures, and a certain long period of time, which is why we sent our request there [to Russia] using special communication. But the filing of this request does not leave the parties without the possibility - should a political solution be found - to use another mechanism of return, a political one, nominally speaking."