Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered government bodies to annul the criminal cases over political motives, which had been filed under Ukrainian laws in the new Russian regions.
The Kremlin website published the list of presidential instructions which was prepared after a meeting of the head of state with the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights last December.
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office jointly with the Investigative Committee, Federal Security Service, Interior Ministry and Supreme Court will implement measures to drop the criminal cases over political motives against citizens living in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. The deadline is May 1, 2023, the document said.
Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, Investigative Committee chairman Alexander Bastrykin, FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev and Supreme Court chairman Vyasheslav Lebedev will supervise the implementation of the presidential instruction.
The Lugansk People’s Republic, Donetsk People’s Republic and Zaporozhye and Kherson regions acceded to Russia on September 30, 2022 following the unification referenda.*i*ie