MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree pardoning 23 women, said head of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (HRC) Valery Fadeyev.

"At the meeting with the president, the issue of a possible pardon was raised. And so the president signed a decree pardoning 23 women," Fadeyev told reporters.

He said this is "quite a lot, because pardons usually take place on an individual basis."

Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova called the pardon of the women, including relatives of soldiers of the special military operation, an important step to support Russians performing military duty.

"I welcome the decision of the president of the Russian Federation to pardon these 23 women. Of particular importance is the fact that among those pardoned are mothers, as well as relatives of participants in the special military operation. We are consistently working to ensure that the rights of this category of citizens are under special protection of the state, and we see in this decree an important step to support families performing military duty," she wrote on Max.