Presidential pardon decrees issued for convicts recruited to fight in the Ukraine War are classified information, Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, has told BBC Russia.
“I cannot speak about the decrees. You know, there are disclosed decrees, and there are classified ones, so I cannot say anything about the decrees,” Peskov said. “But I can confirm that the entire pardon procedure strictly follows Russian laws.”
Eva Merkacheva, a member of Russia’s Presidential Human Rights Council, reported that convicts were formally being acquitted of all charges before they departed their prisons to head for the battlezones. She also said that the pardon procedure was an official secret of state.