Ukraine Releases Russian Jailed Over Alleged Plot To Kill Putin

A Ukrainian court has ordered the release of a Russian citizen who was jailed in 2012 over an alleged plot to kill Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The court in the Black Sea port city of Odesa on November 18 sentenced Adam Osmayev to time served -- about two years and nine months -- after convicting him of illegal explosives possession, damaging private property, and forgery.

But amid tension between Moscow and Kyiv over the conflict in eastern Ukraine, authorities dropped the attempted assassination charge against Osmayev last month.

Osmayev, an ethnic Chechen, was arrested in February 2012 after his associate, Kazakh citizen Ilya Pyanzin, was injured in the accidental explosion of a handmade bomb in Odesa. The blast killed a third man.

Osmayev and Pyanzin were charged with plotting to kill Putin.

Pyanzin was extradited to Russia and sentenced to 10 years in prison in September 2013.

Osmayev's extradition had been halted at the request of the European Court for Human Rights.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax