Two members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot were released prematurely from prison Monday under a new amnesty law the nation recently passed, Reuters reported.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 24, and Maria Alyokhina, 25, were each serving two-year jail terms for their part in a 2012 protest performance in front of Moscow's main cathedral that was critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin. They were released nearly two months before their prison sentences were due to end, Reuters reported.

"I would like to see Putin as a clement leader, but he is far from it," Tolokonnikova, told NBC News after she was released from the prison in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. "I see it as a weakness because to free us when we have until two months left is not much after we have served two years. I would see it as a strength if he would free other political prisoners."

The amnesty bill, proposed by Putin, passed with a 446-0 vote in the Russian Duma last Wednesday. It will result in the early release of thousands of Russian prisoners, "the vast majority of whom are first-time offenders, minors, and women jailed on nonviolent offenses," Newsmax reported.

According to Reuters, these decisions are "widely seen as intended to improve Russia's image before it hosts the Winter Olympics in February."

In interviews, Alyokhina said she thinks the amnesty is a ploy to eliminate tension and "soothe" criticism of Russia's human rights records before February, Reuters reported.

"I do not think it is a humanitarian act, I think it is a PR stunt," the 25-year-old Alyokhina told the Russian Internet and TV channel Dozhd. "My attitude to the president has not changed."

Putin has announced that the amnesty law would show that Russia is humane, Reuters reported.

Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina they will continue to fight for human rights.

"We will unite our efforts in our human rights activity," Alyokhina told reporters. "We will try to sing our the song to the end ... I'm not afraid"

Yekaterina Samutsev, a third member of the Pussy Riot, was freed last year when a judge suspended her sentence on appeal, Reuters reported.