Russia on Thursday released an American-Israeli prisoner accused in a drug case after President Vladimir Putin pardoned her.
The release of Naama Issacar came before talks scheduled in Moscow today between Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who arrived from Washington to present details of US President Donald Trump's peace plan between Israelis and Palestinians.
"It is a dream that has come true," said the mother of the young woman, Naama Issacar, who was in Moscow, to Israeli media. "I thank everyone" and "I am waiting to see it," she added.
Israel had called on Russia to release Issacar, 26, who was born in New Jersey, while her family described her sentence as "unfair."
The court sentenced Issacar to seven years and six months in prison after her arrest in April, when police found nine grams of hemp in her bags while she was stopping at a Moscow airport en route from India to Israel.
Netanyahu welcomed Putin's decision to pardon her, and said he would meet with her today.
Netanyahu, who is campaigning for legislative elections next March 2, has promised to do his utmost to release Issachar.
In December, while appealing the verdict, Issachar confirmed her innocence and denounced the "absurdity" of the charges against her. At the time, the Israeli Foreign Ministry considered Naama Issacer's condemnation "cruel and disproportionate."