Mother of seven who was charged with treason 'to be freed' after thousands petition Putin

A mother of seven accused of treason for telling the Ukrainian embassy about Russian troop movements was set to be released from jail, her husband said. But the charges against her remain.

Svetlana Davydova was still breastfeeding her youngest child, a 2 ½-month-old girl, when she was arrested last month in the town of Vyazma, west of Moscow.

Her case prompted more than 50,000 Russians – including prominent authors and TV celebrities – to write a petition to demand Russian President Vladimir Putin show her clemency.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the presidency had received the petition. Authorities had previously said Davydova risked losing custody of her children.

Davydova, 36, who opposes the Ukraine conflict, phoned the Ukrainian embassy last April allegedly to report that the military base located near her residential building in Vyazma had emptied, suggesting its soldiers might have been deployed across the border.

She also purportedly informed embassy staff she had overheard a serviceman saying troops of the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU, would be sent on a mission – presumedly to Ukraine.