Only hours after she was freed from prison Wednesday, Pussy Riot member Yekaterina Samutsevich vowed to continue the kind of political protest act that led to her imprisonment this summer for "hooliganism" alongside two fellow band members.

The Russian punk band members were sentenced in August for performing a song critical of President Vladimir Putin in one of the Russian Orthodox Church's most important cathedrals in February.

Although Samutsevich walked out of the court building Wednesday with a suspended sentence, the court upheld the two-year sentences for Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina.

But in an exclusive interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Samutsevich said the punk rock band still has work to do in opposing Putin.

"We are not finished, nor are we going to end our political protest," she said. "The situation in the country has deteriorated since our performance and the trial itself is a testimony to that."

Pussy Riot still exists and will carry out more protest performances, she said, adding that rumors of divisions within the group are unfounded.

"We have to act in such a way that they" -- meaning Russian authorities -- "do not learn about concerts ahead of time ... and arrest us," she said.

She will be "more cautious" in her actions going forward, Samutsevich conceded.

Meanwhile, her "negative" attitude toward Putin and what she calls his "mega authoritarian project" remains unchanged, Samutsevich said.

She said the band's cathedral protest had been intended as a criticism of the support given by senior members of the Russian Orthodox Church for a third presidential term for Putin.

"We believe that we live in a secular society and in this state, the principles of the secular society should be respected," she said. "The representatives of the church should not interfere with the politics of the country, and we wanted to highlight this problem through our action."

However, the flash mob-style act was in no way an expression of hatred for the church or its believers, she stressed.

Footage of the brief but provocative protest action -- in which the band members, their faces shrouded by balaclavas, screamed "Mother Mary, please drive Putin away" inside Christ Savior Cathedral -- attracted wide attention after it was posted online. It also outraged many of the country's faithful.

The three women, who were arrested shortly after the protest act, were convicted and sentenced for hooliganism. Two other members of the female punk rock band have fled Russia.

Samutsevich said the court's decision to release her with a suspended sentence was a big surprise, and she has "mixed feelings" about being free after more than six months in custody.

"Of course I am very happy to be out and to be free, but I'm very upset that Nadezhda and Maria are still incarcerated," she said.

Although Samutsevich is a member of Pussy Riot and was involved in planning the protest act, she was stopped by a guard on her way into the church and so did not perform the "punk prayer" song, she said.

This meant that she could not technically be sentenced for dancing at the altar, as the two others were, apparently leading the court to conclude that her sentence should be suspended.

Supporters responded joyfully in the courtroom as her release was announced.

Both Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were very happy for her, Samutsevich said, despite the fact they are expected to serve the remainder of their prison terms in different prisons. Each of them has a young child.