JERUSALEM, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin met on Thursday in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the mother of an Israeli tourist serving a drug conviction in Moscow and gave her assurances.
Putin made the statement during joint statements with Netanyahu, alongside Yaffa Issachar, mother of Naama Issachar, a backpacker sentenced to 7.5 years in prison after convicted with carrying some nine grams of marihuana in her backpack in Jerusalem.
"Everything will be alright," Putin told Yaffa Issachar, adding that Naama Issachar will be visited in jail today by the deputy commissioner of human rights in Russia.
Her case sparked a high-profile protest in Israel, with Netanyahu and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin asking Putin to free her.
Issachar made no remarks after the meeting.
"I know the (Israeli) prime minister's position on the matter and all this is taken into account in making the decision. I told Yaffa and I will say it again, everything will be alright," Putin said as the remarks were broadcast live on Israel's main TV channels.
Naama Issachar, 27, was arrested on her way home after a trip to India during transit through a Moscow airport. She is appealing her case, saying she was not provided with a translator while signing her declaration.
Putin landed in Israel on Thursday morning for a one-day visit during which he will take part in the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.
