AT THREE o’clock in the morning on May 25th, guards roused Nadia Savchenko in her prison cell in southern Russia, told her to pack her things and whisked her to an airport. “I didn’t know if I was flying to Ukraine or to Siberia,” says the Ukrainian military pilot, who spent nearly two years in Russian captivity on fabricated charges. Only when she saw yellow and blue stripes on the plane did she realize that she was heading home.
Ms Savchenko descended on Ukraine a ready-made heroine. She tops polls as the most trusted politician in the country, far above the president, Petro Poroshenko. Supporters have created “Savchenko for President” Facebook groups, and she has not demurred: “If you want me to be your president,” she said at her first press conference, “I will become the president.” Russian commentators have gleefully predicted she might bring down Mr Poroshenko and his government. Yet the 35-year-old Ms Savchenko is neither savior nor saboteur; she is a soldier in an unexpected position.
Revolutions often thrust people into unforeseen roles, but few are forced to make…