A statement released by the Latvian foreign Ministry said: "On 17 June last year, a pilot of Ukrainian Air Force, Nadiya Savchenko, was illegally detained. It is indeed regrettable that Nadiya Savchenko and a number of other Ukrainian citizens remain incarcerated in Russia on trumped up charges, regardless of the fact that the international community has condemned Russia’s acts of this kind.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again calls on Russia to respect its international commitments and release all hostages and persons illegally detained in the context of the conflict in Ukraine as stipulated in the set of measures signed on 12 February 2015 concerning implementation of the Minsk agreements.
Following her seizure, Savchenko was elected in absentia as a member of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) and a member of the Delegation of Ukraine to the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly.
The statement was released on behalf of Latvia only, not the whole European Union of which Latvia currently holds the rotating presidency.
Russia is also illegally holding Estonian security agent Eston Kohver, whom it snatched from Estonian territory on 5 September 2014. He is also being subjected to a Soviet-style show trial.
