Vladimir Putin is considering a pardon for an American-Israeli woman jailed in Russia on drug charges, a Russian media outlet reported Thursday on the eve of visit to Israel.

Naama Issachar was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison after Russian authorities caught her with 9.5 grams of cannabis while on a connecting flight from India to Israel.

As YWN reported earlier this week, Putin is scheduled to visit Israel for the International Holocaust Remembrance Forum at Yad Vashem on January 23 and the unveiling of a monument to the victims of the Siege of Leningrad during World War II.

According to the report, the Kremlin is still extremely displeased, however. with Israel’s extradition of a Russian hacker to the U.S. late last year.

“We wanted this process to be be a two-way street,” a Russian official told the outlet.

The report in the Russian media comes hours after Putin spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone.

The conversation about recent regional developments also touched on Issachar’s case, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

“The conversation was warm and to the point and strengthened the Prime Minister’s optimism that the issue of the release of Naama Issachar is advancing towards a solution,” the PM office said in a statement.

Just two days ago YWN reported that Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, HaRav Shlomo Amar wrote a letter to Putin appealing to him to release Naama.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)