Female Ukrainian pilot Savchenko to go on trial in Russia on September 22

Ukrainian military pilot Nadezhda Savchenko stands inside a defendants' cage as she attends a court hearing in Moscow, Russia, May 6, 2015. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ukrainian military pilot Nadezhda Savchenko will go on trial in Russia on Sept. 22, her defence lawyers said on Tuesday, more than a year after she was captured by Kremlin-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine and handed over to Moscow.

Savchenko faces 25 years in jail if found guilty of complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists in east Ukraine and of crossing into Russia illegally. She denies any wrongdoing, saying she was spirited into Russia by the rebels after being captured in a day-long battle in June, 2014.