German doctors visited Ukraine pilot jailed in Russia: Berlin
German foreign ministry called for her release, voicing "serious concern" about her health
BERLIN (AFP) - German doctors this month visited Ukrainian military pilot Nadia Savchenko who has been on hunger strike in a Russian jail for over two months, Berlin said Monday.
The German foreign ministry called for her release, voicing "serious concern" about her health.
Two German physicians had checked on Savchenko and talked with her prison doctors on February 15 on what Germany called a "humanitarian, not a political" visit.
The ministry spokesman said he could give no information on the outcome of the medical consultation, since all sides had agreed to "absolute confidentiality".
Russia has charged Savchenko, 33, with involvement in the deaths of two Russian reporters in east Ukraine.
Savchenko, who denies the charges, has become a symbol of resistance in Ukraine, where she won a parliamentary seat in absentia in October.
"We would be very pleased if the humanitarian, political and legal case of Savchenko would be resolved soon, and the best thing indeed would be the release of Ms. Savchenko, and we are committed to this," the spokesman, Martin Schaefer, told a regular press conference.
Ukraine s President Petro Poroshenko raised the fate of Savchenko at the latest Minsk summit with Russia s Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande.
