The Russian duma today unanimously voted in favour of the proposed amnesty bill, which is increasingly likely to see the imprisoned Arctic 30 and two members of punk band Pussy Riot freed. Russia extended the amnesty to include hooliganism earlier this week.
It could now see an end to the two year imprisonment of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, who were arrested following an anti-Putin protest in a Moscow cathedral.
Ms Tolokonnikova’s husband reportedly tweeted that officials have vowed to release them “right away and without bureaucratic delay, probably tomorrow.”
The bill, proposed by President Putin to celebrate 20 years of the Russian constitution, has been viewed as a means to appease critics of the nation’s human rights agenda prior to the Sotchi Winter Olympics in 2014.
Whether the bill will see both the Arctic 30 and Pussy Riot members freed will not be known until it happens.