The pardons commission of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District has received but rejected two petitions to pardon the film director Oleh Sentsov convicted for terrorism, a spokesperson for the district's governor told Interfax on Thursday.

"We can confirm that the pardons commission has received two petitions but neither of them is from Oleh Sentsov. A pardon petition must be written by Sentsov in person, so the petitions were not accepted," the spokesperson said.

The petitions, one from Sentsov's mother, the other from Archbishop Kliment of Simferopol and Crimea, were initially addressed to the president of Russia, the spokesperson said. The presidential administration forwarded them to the Yamal-Nenets regional pardons commission, the spokesperson said.

Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday dismissed accusations about the authorities not pardoning Sentsov as baseless.