WASHINGTON
The United States on Wednesday demanded Russia release Ukrainian air force officer Nadia Sevchenko.
Sevchenko, who is on a 54-day hunger strike, contends she was illegally transferred to Russia last July after being captured by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
“We call on Russia to release Nadia Sevchenko and all other Ukrainian hostages immediately, a commitment Russia made when it signed the Minsk agreement in September of last year,” said State Department spokeswoman Jean Psaki.
“Nadia has been forced to undergo psychiatric evaluations, solitary confinement, restricted access to a Ukrainian consular official, and isolation from her family,” Psaki added.
Sevchenko also represents Ukraine’s parliament in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, or PACE, and was not able to attend its December opening session due to her imprisonment.
According to United Nations, more than 5,300 people have been killed and 12,200 others injured in eastern Ukraine since last April in the ongoing conflict between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists.
