democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. we begin today in russia where president vladimir putin has signed a decree pardoning the country's former richest man. honest international has khodorkovsky al prisoner of conscience. he spent more than a decade behind bars after he fell into disfavor with putin. the release comes as the russian parliament voted wednesday to approve a mass amnesty for thousands more. up to 22,000 people are such eventually be freed under an initiative vladimir putin says is meant to mark the 20th anniversary of the passage of russia's post-soviet constitution. could it say he also hopes to deflect international criticism of his human rights crackdown ahead of the 2014 sochi winter games. >> among the tens of thousands to be released are members of