Russia arrests female Ukrainian aviator over journalists' deaths
Moscow says the 2 journalists were specifically targeted and has launched a probe into their deaths.
MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia said Wednesday it had arrested a Ukrainian helicopter navigator and charged her over the deaths of two Russian journalists in an attack in eastern Ukraine last month, prompting a furious reaction from Kiev.
Russian investigators said Nadiya Savchenko, one of the few women serving in the Ukrainian airforce, was an accomplice in what they claimed was the deliberate murder of the journalists.
Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, who worked for state television channel Rossiya, were killed on June 18 after being hit with shrapnel during an attack by Ukrainian forces near the city of Lugansk.
Government forces have been battling pro-Russian rebels which seized government buildings in eastern Ukraine three months ago.
Moscow said the two journalists were specifically targeted and has launched a probe into their deaths.
"Having gained the coordinates of a group of Russian journalists and other civilians near Lugansk, she (Savchenko) passed them on to the combatants," and the coordinates were then used to direct mortar shelling, the powerful Investigative Committee said.
The statement by the investigators said Savchenko was detained after crossing into Russia while posing as a refugee without any identity documents.
However Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda interviewed Savchenko in late June when she was being held prisoner by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Kiev immediately accused Russia of kidnapping Savchenko and smuggling her across the border for prosecution, demanding her "unconditional release."
Her appearance in a Russian jail "is further proof that terrorists plan and carry out their crimes in Ukraine in close cooperation with Russian security services," the Ukrainian foreign ministry said.
The 33-year-old has previously served in peacekeeping missions in Iraq.
