Widely seen as a concession to his International Critics and his human rights critics trying to take some of the heat off of russia for hosting these olympics. People were very upset about their human rights record, their domestic oppression, their international aggression. Trying to take the heat off that. By just a few weeks before the olympics started, putin released some of the Political Prisoners who he was holding in russian prisons. Among the most high profile prisoners was a feminist punk band called pussy riot. I am such a prude, i still find it embarrassing to say the name. That is the name of the band. The thing they were most famous for when they were released before the sochi olympics and also the thing they went to prison for was what they called punk prayer. It was basically a Performance Art piece. It happened in a dhchurch. It was very directly critical of Vladimir Putin. Are the leaders of the band pussy riot were held in prison for 21 months before putin released the