(Wikimedia Commons)

Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were serving a two-year sentence for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for staging a performance at Moscow's main cathedral in March 2012.

A third member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was released earlier on a suspended sentence.

The freed band members are charging Kremlin with creating a public relations stunt to improve the country's image ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February. 

President Vladimir Putin also pardoned Mikhail Khodorkovsky on Friday, a former oil tycoon and one of Russia's richest men. He spent a decade in prison on fraud and tax evasion charges after challenging Putin's power.

Read more at The Guardian.

Reach Executive Producer Syuzanna Petrosyan here. Follow her on Twitter.