UPDATE 1-Putin pardons U.S.-Israeli woman jailed in Russia on drug charges

President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to pardon and free a U.S.-Israeli woman jailed in Russia on drug charges, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

Naama Issachar, who was born in New Jersey, was arrested in April last year after police found nine grams of cannabis in her bags during a stopover at a Moscow airport. Sentenced to seven and a half years in jail on drug offenses, Issachar asked for a presidential pardon after Putin met her mother during a visit to Jerusalem last week.

"Guided by the principle of humanity, I hereby order that Issachar Naama be pardoned," read the decree, which the Kremlin said took immediate effect. In Jerusalem, where Putin was attending an event to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, the Russian leader told Issachar's mother that "everything will be okay" for her daughter.

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