Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to pardon the blogger Valeria Chekalina, known as Larchek, solely on humanitarian grounds. This is what the head of state's press secretary Dmitry Peskov told TASS. At the same time, the official representative of the Kremlin admitted that Chekalina caused the country significant economic damage. However, when making the decision, the president took into account her serious illness and the presence of minor children. Vladimir Putin signed an amnesty order for blogger Valeria Chekalina on November 14. The document exempts the blogger from punishment and also clears her criminal record. The decree also states that the decision was made according to the principles of humanity. At the end of July, the Gagrinsky court in Moscow sentenced Larchek to five years of probation and a fine of approximately 763 million rubles. The blogger appealed the decision, but on November 5, the court in the city of Moscow left the main part of the sentence intact, after which the sentence entered into force. Putin pardoned Larchek. On November 10, Cheklina's lawyers contacted the Federal Correctional Service, asking to return her passport and allow her to travel to China for cancer treatment. Before that, the travel issue was discussed in court, but it was decided to consider it as part of a separate procedure. On November 12, Larchek's lawyer Konstantin Tretyakov reported that his department had appealed to the President of Russia with a request for amnesty.