US-Israeli woman freed by Russia after Putin pardon

Russia yesterday freed a US-Israeli woman jailed for drug trafficking after she was pardoned by President Vladimir Putin.

Russia released 26-year-old Naama Issachar as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Putin at the Kremlin to discuss US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan.

Issachar’s case caused an outcry in Israel and she was set to fly back with Netanyahu after his meeting with Putin, an Israeli government official confirmed to AFP.

Issachar was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport in April 2019 while she was in the transit zone en route from India to Israel.

Russian authorities said they found nine grammes (three ounces) of cannabis in her checked luggage and she was sentenced in October to seven and a half years in prison.

Her case was controversial because she was sentenced for drug trafficking while she was in transit and the drugs were in hold luggage.

Putin pardoned Issachar on Wednesday after she submitted a request at the weekend.

“Guided by the principles of humanity, I pardon Naama Issachar,” Putin said in a decree cited by the Kremlin.

He told Netanyahu that it was lucky for Issachar that she did not cross the border, suggesting this would have complicated the pardon procedure.