Is Vladimir Putin’s police Pussy Riots’ oppressors or their press agents?
Two members of the Russian punk-rock collective Pussy Riot claim that Russian secret police arrested them and roughed them up on Tuesday. The incident took place in Sochi, just a few miles from the Olympic games.
“We have been arrested,” Nadzehda Tolokonnikova tweeted, “accused of robbery.” The charges stem from items alleged missing from a local hotel. Her band mate Maria Alekhina claimed, “In the investigator’s office dragged up the stairs, all bruised. Let’s apply to the Supreme Court.” The pair spent nearly two years in prison on convictions of hooliganism inspired by religious hatred before their release shortly before Christmas.
The punk rockers are in Sochi to film a music video for their song, “Putin Will Teach You to Love the Motherland,” a phrase Alekhina repeated on Twitter in relation to her Tuesday arrest. Crime pays–in publicity, at least.
Photo credit: Igor Mukhin
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