Info that I'm a Kremlin project is pure baloney, I'm already used to it – Savchenko
Verkhovna Rada deputy Nadia Savchenko of the Batkivschyna faction has denied working for the Russian Federation.
"That I'm a project of the Kremlin and other insinuations I've heard about myself – it's all baloney. I have grown accustomed to the charges for the last six months," Savchenko said during an interview aired by NewsOne TV on Monday.
"I work for the good of the Ukrainian people, to help them. I am committed to the Ukrainian people and did not intend to every betray them. … I haven't betrayed them yet. I weathered the storm in a Russian prison and will endure attacks in Ukraine," Savchenko said.
Asked whether she would entertain the notion of serving the Ukrainian people in parliament with the likes of the self-proclaimed leaders Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's republics, respectively, Savchenko replied: "I can't imagine it. Frankly. They would not be able to say the same."
"Maybe we don't need Zakharchenko and Plotnitsky in the Verkhovna Rada. But why don't we need a coal miner, who can become deputy, someone who worked 20 years in the pits and knows his industry? Why can't someone like that become a minister, who knows his sphere of expertise. Why should a land trader not be in this post? Do you think all residents of eastern Ukraine are separatists? There are separatists, there are Russian soldiers, who shot at me. I know all this. But there are also Ukrainians there who are asking for our help. Ukrainians do not forsake other Ukrainians and have demonstrated this by pulling them out of prisons. I am an example," Savchenko said.
Asked whether Ukraine's SBU Security Service knew about her meetings in Minsk with Zakharchenko and Plotnitsky, Savchenko said: "I know how to keep a state secret. If the SBU finds it necessary [to do something], you will hear about it. But you should know one thing: the SBU is not a public [government] service," Savchenko said. She added that she cooperates with the SBU, Ukraine's Interior Ministry and Ukraine's armed forces, according to the law.
Savchenko said she does not fear being stripped of immunity from prosecution and the issue of trust in her should be a topic for the next parliamentary elections.
"I am not afraid of distrust in me or efforts to strip me of parliamentary immunity from prosecution. On the contrary, I press on that green [yes vote] button, because I think as a lawmaker it is necessary to strip all deputies of immunity from prosecution, all at once. Should I be trusted? People will decide. They will say at the next parliamentary election. They will tell it to my face. But I have no intention of getting mired down in all the scandals and innuendo, like in a food market, before that happens," Savchenko said.