Parliament in Russia has approved an amnesty under which hooliganism charges are likely to be dropped against the Pussy Riot prisoners and 30 members of Greenpeace arrested after an oil drilling protest in the Arctic.
The State Duma in Moscow unanimously approved the law at its third reading on Wednesday and it is expected to come into force within days.
It covers at least 20,000 prisoners, including minors, invalids, veterans, pregnant women, and mothers.
Pussy Riot members Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were jailed in 2012 for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after performing an anti-Kremlin protest song in a cathedral in Moscow.
Charges against the 30 people, including two New Zealanders, arrested on the Greenpeace icebreaker Arctic Sunrise in September may be dropped.
The clemency measure was proposed by President Vladimir Putin to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the passage of Russia's constitution.
