Good news for Pussy Riot members Maria Alyokhinia and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the two jailed members of the punk band would be freed under an law, passed by the Russian parliament, according to NBC News. The bill will also be for the release of 30 environmental activists, who will aviod a trial.
"I feel sorry for Pussy Riot not for the fact that they were jailed, but for disgraceful behavior that has degraded the image of women," Putin said during a televised news conference, NBC News reports.
In March 2012, Alyokhina, Tolokonnikova and fellow band member Yekaterina Samutsevich were arrested and sentenced with two years in a jail, for storming a Russian Orthodox church to perform "punk prayer" that protested the religion's ties to Putin.
Putin said the amnesty was not drafted with the activists or punk band in mind, but rather to mark the 20th anniversary of Russia's post-Soviet constitution. The band members' arrests have received criticism from human rights and a number of global celebrities.
According to NBC News, the release of the prisoners can ease tension with the West, while the country is getting ready to host the Winter Olympics. A lawyer for Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina, said the plan is for the Pussy Riot band members to walk free within days.
"It's a very narrow amnesty," Irina Khrunova's lawyer said, according to NBC News. "I'm very glad it applies to my clients."
