MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. The number of inmates in Russia’s correctional system has declined by roughly 50% over the past two decades, gradually and inconspicuously, President Putin said, pointing out that this was a revolutionary development.

While commenting on a small percentage of acquittals in an interview for the TASS project entitled "20 Questions with Vladimir Putin" he said that in contrast to the early 2000s, the number of convicts serving prison terms had gone down by a half.

"The amount halved. Decreased quietly, with no fuss," he noted. "In fact, it's a sort of revolutionary development."

"It has been taking place gradually, as a result of various decisions liberalizing the legal responsibility of citizens who committed minor offenses or first-time offenders, and so on," he explained.

According to the Federal Penitentiary Service, Russia currently has 510,000 imprisoned convicts in contrast to 1,000,000 in 1999.

Episode 4 of the video interview is available at https://putin.tass.ru/en.