The brother of one of the New Zealand Greenpeace activists who are now free to leave Russia says he hopes his brother will be home by the New Year.
David Haussmann and John Beauchamp are among 30 activists who had been facing charges of hooliganism for being part of an ocean protest against Arctic oil drilling.
Members of the Greenpeace group in Saint Petersburg. Photo: AFP / Greenpeace / Dmitri Sharomov / file
The Russian authorities are no longer pursuing the case so they are now able to leave as soon as they can arrange a visa.
Mr Haussman's brother, Tony, says his brother is working to have his visa processed before the delays that could come with the Russian New Year holiday.
He says David Haussman, whose partner is pregnant, is looking forward to getting home to see her and their young son and to get ready for the new baby.
Russia has so far dropped charges against 29 of the 30 Greenpeace personnel.
A BBC correspondent reports the foreigners spent Christmas Day in immigration offices formally having hooliganism cases against them dropped.
The 26 foreign nationals are seeking visas to leave the country.
They were detained after an attempt was made to board a oil rig owned by Gazprom from an ice breaker, the Arctic Sunrise.
The group was initially charged with piracy but the charges were later reduced to hooliganism.
In a statement, the ship's captain, Peter Willcox, said he is relieved the charges are being dropped.
Lawyer Anton Beneslavsky said they will most likely be able to leave Russia in a few days once their visas have been processed.
But the BBC reports an Italian member of the group was told he would have to wait until Thursday to have his case dropped because no translator was available.
Critics of Russia's treatment of political prisoners say the amnesty is timed to improve the country's image before the Winter Olympics at Sochi next year.
