Russia: Pussy Riot Member Released From Prison Maria Alyokhina, member of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, speaks to the media with her lawyer Pyotr Zaikin at a train station in Nizhny Novgorod December 23, 2013. Feminist punk rocker Maria Alyokhina walked free from prison on Monday, months ahead of her scheduled release in March. Alyokhina along with fellow Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were imprisoned for "hooliganism" in 2012 for performing a "punk prayer" in a Moscow cathedral in protest to Putin's ties to the Russian Orthodox church. Tolokonnikova is reportedly set to be released later this week, according to the AP. The members" imprisonment was largely seen as an effort by Putin to silent myriad forms of dissent sprouting across Russia after the strongman controversially took the country's helm as president for the third time in 2012. The punk collective Pussy Riot held several large-scale performances protesting Putin, which gained international notoriety as videos of their vitriolic lambasting of the president and the country's corrupt politicians went viral. Alyokhina's was the latest "political prisoner" to be released during a string of amnesties this month as Russia prepares to host the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February. "It is an absolutely cynical game of the central authorities," Tolokonnikova's father Andrei told Reuters last week, in reference to Moscow's efforts to placate the international community ahead of the games. After mounting several political victories, including staving off American airstrikes against Syria and luring Ukraine away from a E.U. free trade pact, Putin appears to have grown less fearful that his former foes have the power to challenge his increasingly tight grip on the country. Last week, Putin oversaw the release of his infamous rival and oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. MORE: Khodorkovsky's Pardon: Another Sign Putin Is Winning