MOSCOW, October 16. /TASS/. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not clarify whether the Kremlin had received Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request to pardon US-Israeli dual citizen Naama Issachar.
"[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has just returend from the [United Arab] Emirates," Peskov told TASS on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the office of the Israeli prime minister reported that Netanyahu sent an official appeal to Putin asking to pardon Issachar.
On October 11, the Khimki City Court in the Moscow region sentenced Issachar to 7.5 years in a standard regime penal colony on charges of drug possession and smuggling. Issachar, 25, was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on April 9 when she was in the airport’s transit zone before boarding a connecting flight to Tel Aviv after arriving from New Delhi. The airport’s security guards found 9.6 grams of cannabis in her luggage. Issachar admitted her guilt of possessing the drug but denied smuggling charges.
On Monday, Peskov told reporters that if the request of the Israeli authorities is received by Moscow, it will be considered by the Russian president, who will make the final decision on the matter.
On Monday and Tuesday, Putin made official visits to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.