By Anton Naumlyuk, Radio Svoboda [Radio Liberty], Nadiya Savchenko’s letter from Novocherkassk prison to Svetlana Alexievich courtesy of Anton Naumlyuk
10.27.2015
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine

“To me, Putin has already lost “– Nadiya Savchenko
Nadiya Savchenko responded to Svetlana Alexievich via Radio Svoboda,
thanking Alexievich for her attitude toward Nadiya and to Ukraine

Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko during her trial in Donetsk, Rostov region, Russia on October 26, 2015. Photo: Anton Naumlyuk, Radio Svoboda

Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, who is on trial in Donetsk, Rostov region [Russia], responded to Belarusian writer and Nobel Prize winner, Svetlana Alexievich.

Radio Svoboda correspondent [Anton Naumlyuk] previously sent Nadiya Savchenko excerpts from an interview with writer Svetlana Alexievich in which the Nobel laureate, in particular, called the arrest of the Ukrainian pilot kidnapping, and demanded her release.

Svetlana Alexievich

Aleksievich then said: “I really like this woman! I remember the first interview with Nadiya, how honestly she spoke about everything that happened to her. This is a person with beliefs, a person with her own point of view. This is a soldier, who did her job – defending her homeland. I believe that the Ukrainian army is defending its homeland. Savchenko was kidnapped, brought to Russia, the prosecution has no evidence against her, she has an alibi. When I signed the text of a letter (to defend Savchenko – Ed.), I remembered the famous picture in which Putin is depicted on horseback – half-naked, a powerful torso. So I think: well, how does this coexist with the fact that [this] man is warring on a woman? On such strong, interesting women? When it is already clear that very little is left, that for Nadiya there won’t be enough. In the worst wars, it is accepted to respect the resilience and liberty of the enemy, even the Germans did so during World War II, there are many such examples. And for some reason, this is something the Russian government is not able to do. ”

In response, Nadiya Savchenko thanked the writer for her attitude to herself personally, and to Ukraine:

Thank you very much for the fragment of the interview of the great Belarussian writer Svetlana Alexievich. In Russia she was called a Soviet writer, Poroshenko called her a Ukrainian, but she is the daughter of the great and honorable Belarussian people! She has earned the right to make her homeland and her country famous throughout the whole world! And there is no need to cross her over, trying to grab a bit of her glory for yourself. I am very happy for this person and respect her work and her creativity. I don’t know her and unfortunately, have not yet read her books. But I have already ordered them into the prison for myself. Some time, before this, I heard the name of the book “War does not have a woman’s face*” and grinned sarcastically, since I was one of the women who sees the face of war… But I understood that our opinions would be the same on many things. That this book is not a chauvinistic discourse about how the place of a woman is in the kitchen, but on the contrary, it is an ode to women. I will definitely read this book.

If you can, please deliver my message to Svetlana Alexievich. And my gratitude for her attitude towards me and towards Ukraine.

And as for Putin with his naked torso on a horse, in a jet fighter and fighting fires, hunting in the Taiga, and on a ship, and on a submarine and wherever else they PR him, I think, good lad! Every real man should be able to this! Only here is the irony, I am a woman, and, imagine! – I can do all this as well! Well, maybe I don’t have a black belt in Sambo. But then I am a great dancer of Samba ;)) And time will tell which one of us has more balls!.. But I will not ask for forgiveness from the scum! To me, he has already lost, given the fact that I’m a woman and he’s a bloke!

And you, journalists, are honest and truthful, thank you for your work. And let me know if I don’t behave quite right. 🙂

Respectfully, Nadiya.

Nadiya Savchenko is in jail in Novocherkassk, Rostov region [Russia]. The pilot is accused of complicity in the death of VGTRK [The All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company’s] Russian journalists in the summer of 2014, as well as an attempt on the life of refugees, and illegal border crossing. Savchenko denies all accusations and insists that she was illegally taken to Russia with the participation of [Russian] “special services.”

*Svetlana Alexievich’s book was published in 1988 with the English title of “War’s Unwomanly Face” (and Alexiyevich was using a ‘y’ in the spelling of her name then). 

Source: Radio Svoboda