Russia marked the 20^th anniversary of the Russian Constitution today with the traditional annual Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly speech by President Vladimir Putin.

The President’s speech made no mention of the forthcoming amnesty proposed by the Russian Presidential Human Rights Council, the details of which are being eagerly awaited by those who may benefit.

After the Presidential Address, Mikhail Prokhorov, Chairman of the Russian political party ‘Civic Platform’, commented:

“I think that the amnesty question has previously been discussed, in a way it has already been adopted. In this sense, there is no need to repeat anything, although, I have said before that  I would like  the amnesty to cover all the defendants of the ‘Bolotnaya Square case’, Eugeny Urlashov, and, in addition, it is of course desirable that Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are freed. In other words, I am wholly in favour of a full amnesty to mark the 20^th anniversary of the Constitution”.

The Russian radio station Echo of Moscow reported that the Russian State Duma is likely to announce the amnesty on December 17.

Read the official amnesty resolution here.