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Vladimir Putin signed executive orders pardoning Paul Nicholas Whelan, Kevin Lik, Evan Gershkovich, Demuri Voronin, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Alsu Kurmasheva, Lilia Chanysheva, Vadim Ostanin, Ksenia Fadeyeva, Alexandra Skochilenko, Ilya Yashin, Andrei Pivovarov, and Oleg Orlov.

The decision to sign the executive orders was made with the aim of returning Russian citizens detained and imprisoned in foreign countries.

The Russian side would like to extend gratitude to President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko for his goodwill gesture of pardoning German citizen Rico Krieger who has been sentenced to death.

Moscow would also like to thank the leaders of all countries that provided assistance in preparing the exchange.