The Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense, Andrey Kartapolov, stated that the Russian authorities should not declare amnesty in honor of the anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War. «Today, those who are in places of detention and love their Motherland have a good chance to prove it by signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense. And nothing more is needed today, when the country is conducting a „SVO“. Everything else is deceitful», — quotes Kartapolov the Telegram channel Radio Mayak.
According to current legislation, prisoners in Russian colonies can be pardoned if they sign a contract for service in the Armed Forces of Russia. Signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense can also be a reason for the termination of criminal prosecution at the stage of investigation and trial.
At the end of 2024, the head of the Yabloko party, Nikolai Rybakov, appealed to the Speaker of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, with a request to release all persons detained under the so-called «anti-war articles» of the Russian Criminal Code, as well as all convicted of non-violent crimes who are seriously ill, disabled, and women with children. Rybakov noted that amnesty in Russia has not been conducted for ten years.
For the first time in modern Russia, amnesty on the occasion of Victory Day was declared in 1995, and then conducted in 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015. In 2020, a bill was submitted to the State Duma to declare amnesty for certain categories of convicts in connection with the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, but it was never declared.