Two jailed Pussy Riot members and 30 charged Greenpeace protesters - including Tasmanian man Colin Russell - could be let off under a general amnesty backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a draft bill.
The Russian parliament on Tuesday published a draft proposal for a prison amnesty that would include Pussy Riot's Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, albeit three months before their two-year sentences end.
The amnesty proposal applies to those convicted or charged with certain minor offences such as hooliganism.
The Pussy Riot activists were convicted of hooliganism for a protest against Putin in a church. They could qualify for the amnesty on another count because both have young children. They are due to be freed in March after being refused parole several times.
Thirty Greenpeace crew members from 19 countries, including Australian Russell, who have been bailed on hooliganism charges over a protest against Arctic energy drilling could be allowed to leave Russia.
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Greenpeace cautioned against being too optimistic, saying on Twitter: "Media reports on amnesty are all speculation until confirmed by Russian parliament."
Putin submitted the amnesty bill, which means its approval by parliament should be a formality.
Far from being freed early under the amnesty, anti-Kremlin ex-tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky is unlikely to benefit.
Khodorkovsky risks a third trial that could keep him in prison beyond his August 2014 release date after prosecutors revealed he was being investigated on new charges.
Khodorkovsky, who this year marked 10 years in prison and has been convicted twice of fraud and embezzlement, does not qualify because "his sentence was for more than five years", a lawmaker responsible for criminal legislation, Pavel Krasheninnikov, told the RIA Novosti news agency.
