p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 15.0px Calibri; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #101010; -webkit-text-stroke: #101010} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} span.s2 {font: 16.0px 'Times New Roman'; text-decoration: underline ; font-kerning: none; color: #347ab7; -webkit-text-stroke: 0px #347ab7} Russian President Vladimir Putin pardoned a young Israeli accused of drug charges ahead of his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today. The release of Naama Issachar, who had been sentenced to 7½ years in prison, ends a bitter controversy that had plagued relations between the two countries.
Why it matters: Relations between Russia and Israel turned frosty following Israel’s extradition of Russian citizen Alexei Burkov to the United States Nov. 12, 2019, on charges of complicity in cybercrimes. At the time, Moscow expected Burkov to be swapped for Issachar.
