Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has explained the reasoning behind Vladimir Putin's decision to pardon blogger Valeria Chekalina, known as Lerchek. According to TASS, the Kremlin representative stressed that the head of state was guided solely by humanitarian considerations when signing the corresponding decree, the website infohub.kz reports.
Valeria Chekalina received a suspended sentence for carrying out illegal currency transactions. According to Peskov, although the blogger caused major economic damage to the state, the president took into account her serious illness and the fact that she has minor children.
Asked whether the blogger's fame and the public outcry around the case influenced the pardon decision, or whether only the need for her to travel abroad for treatment was considered, Peskov said: "When making the decision and signing the corresponding decree, the head of state was guided solely by humanitarian considerations."
"It is obvious that the economic damage to the state was very great. But at the same time, account was taken above all of the fact that this is a woman who is suffering from a terminal illness, and also that she has minor children, and this was what prompted such a decision," the Kremlin representative explained.