Russian MPs have backed an amnesty that may include some of the country's best-known prisoners including Pussy Riot and the Greenpeace Arctic protesters.
The State Duma in Moscow unanimously approved the law at its third reading and it is expected to come into force within days.
It covers at least 20,000 prisoners, including minors, invalids, veterans, pregnant women, and mothers.
Charges against 30 people arrested on a Greenpeace ship may be dropped.
The 30 mostly foreign nationals were recently released from custody but not allowed to leave Russia.
Two members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, were jailed in 2012 for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after performing an anti-Kremlin protest song in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.
They are due to be released three months from now in any case.
Others who may be freed include some, but not all, of the political protesters arrested during clashes with police after Vladimir Putin's inauguration as Russian president for a third term last year.
One prisoner who will not be affected by the amnesty is former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who is due for release next August after serving a reduced sentence for theft.
It is also unlikely that opposition leader Alexei Navalny will have his recent five-year suspended sentence for theft quashed.
The amnesty marks the 20th anniversary of Russia's post-Soviet constitution. It will take effect once it is published but the releases are expected to take place over six months.
据英国广播公司12月18日报道，俄罗斯国家杜马三读全体通过了一项大赦令，朋克乐队“暴动小猫”（Pussy Riot）成员和绿色和平组织北极示威者等囚犯有望获释。
法令有望在几天内生效，将影响2万多人，其中包括包括未成年人、残疾人、退伍军人、孕妇和母亲。
俄罗斯当局可能取消对30名绿色和平组织北极示威者的指控，这30人中大多数是外籍人士，最近已被释放，但尚不许离开俄罗斯境内。
俄罗斯朋克乐队“暴动小猫”的两名成员玛丽亚•阿列希娜和娜杰日达•托罗孔尼科娃预计3月后将获释。她们于2012年被监禁，罪名是冒犯宗教信徒和“流氓行为”，起因是她们在莫斯科救世主大教堂演唱反克里姆林宫的歌曲。
此外，去年普京第三任期就职典礼时曾与警察发生冲突的部分示威者也将获释。
不受大赦影响的囚犯包括因盗窃国有资产被判刑的俄罗斯前石油寡头米哈伊尔•霍多尔科夫斯基，还有因涉嫌挪用公款和欺诈被判有期徒刑五年的反对派领袖人物阿列克谢•纳尔瓦尼。
此次特赦是为了纪念俄罗斯在后苏联时代的宪法20周年。特赦令一旦颁布就立即生效，但释放囚犯的过程预计会超过6个月。
