Russian officials says Moscow could hand over imprisoned Ukrainian pilot

Moscow is open to discussing handing over to Kiev a Ukrainian pilot charged with the murder of two journalists once there is a verdict in her trial, the Russian justice minister said on Friday, in contrast to previous statements.

Although Ukraine struck a deal in August with its four largest commercial bondholders to ease repayment on a few $18 billion in debt, Russia’s intransigence has threatened to scupper the entire bailout.

“We stated our position on the need to repay the debt to the Russian Federation”, Siluanov said after talks with Yaresko held on the sidelines of the worldwide Monetary Fund and the World Bank semi-annual meetings. Ukraine has said that all of its debt holders should be treated equally.

The projects made their announcement before Moscow dialogue on Monday between Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier.

Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko had announced on Wednesday that a “real truce” had begun in the east of his country, where Kiev’s forces had been battling pro-Russian separatist rebels for more than a year.

“Under no circumstance would we ever fire against civilians”, he said. We are fighting a war in eastern Ukraine to protect not only our sovereignty and territorial integrity, but also the security of the whole of Europe.

Russia has previously rejected suggestions that Savchenko could be handed over to Ukraine or exchanged for two captive men who Kiev claims are Russian officers.