Why Savchenko's arrest stirred Kyiv politics

What did the arrest of a sitting MP say about Ukrainian politics in the days before 26 March 2018? The case of Nadiya Savchenko, detained on 22 March 2018, dominated the picture in Kyiv.

A detention inside parliament

On 22 March 2018, the Verkhovna Rada gave its consent to strip Savchenko of parliamentary immunity, and to her detention and arrest. Investigators from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) then detained her inside the parliament building. She was arrested over an alleged plot to attack parliament and overthrow the government.

The sequence mattered: the legislature itself voted to lift her protection, and the detention followed in the same building. The allegation was of an attack on the institution that had just removed her immunity.

Warsaw under pressure from Brussels

The same days brought tension in a neighbouring country. On 21 March 2018, Poland's Foreign Minister, Jacek Czaputowicz, accused the European Union of double standards and of suffering a democratic deficit. Poland and the European Commission were in disputes over migrant quotas and over proposed reform of Poland's judiciary.

On 22 March 2018, the ruling Law and Justice party proposed changes to its planned judicial reforms in response to EU criticism that the plans threatened judicial independence. The European Commission was threatening Poland with sanctions over the reforms.

Defence plans slip

Also on 22 March 2018, Polish and US authorities said that completion of the US missile defence complex in Poland, part of a NATO project, would be delayed until 2020.

Reading the moment

Taken together, the reports show a region where domestic politics and external relationships were both under strain. In Ukraine, a legislator was removed from protection and detained on grave allegations. In Poland, a government was being pressed by EU institutions while adjusting its own legislative plans, and a security project was pushed back by two years.