Russian president signs pardon decree

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree pardoning Nadezhda Savchenko, who was sent to Kiev, RIA Novosti reported May 25.

Savchenko was sentenced in late March to a 22-year jail term in Russia for her part in killing Russian journalists in Donbas. On June 17, 2014, a court ruled that she had directed the artillery fire at a group of Lugansk militia and Russian journalists, which lead to deaths of Russian journalists Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin.