REPORT: Leak Suggests That Putin Will Release Pussy Riot Members

Russian newspaper Izvestia is reporting that President Vladimir Putin will pardon the punk band Pussy Riot and Greenpeace activists in an amnesty on to celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Russian constitution.

In total some 25,000 people will be pardoned on the anniversary, which falls on December 12, Interfax news agency reports, citing Vladimir Vasilyev, deputy speaker of parliament.

Izvestia reports that the two members of of Pussy Riot still imprisoned are likely to get the pardon, according to a draft of the bill they have obtained. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina of the group were sentenced to jail time for "hooliganism" after they performed a song called "Putin's Prayer" at Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral. A third member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was also sentenced but later released on appeal.

The newspaper also reports that some of the 30 Greenpeace activists currently on bail and awaiting trial may be pardoned. The activists were detained after attempting to board the Prirazlomnaya oil platform in September. Other high profile prisoners, including Mikhail Khodorkovsky, are not expected to be included.

Russia Today reports that the amnesty will be adopted before the end of the year and implemented within the next six months. The amnesty appears to be part of a positive PR push from the Kremlin ahead of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games.