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| Two members of Pussy Riot detained in Sochi | Two members of Pussy Riot detained in Sochi |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| SOCHI, Russia – Two members of the protest group Pussy Riot, released from prison two months ago, were detained by police here Tuesday. The women, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, tweeted details of their detention from a police van, saying they had planned to make a video of a song: “Putin Will Teach You How to Love Your Motherland.” | SOCHI, Russia – Two members of the protest group Pussy Riot, released from prison two months ago, were detained by police here Tuesday. The women, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, tweeted details of their detention from a police van, saying they had planned to make a video of a song: “Putin Will Teach You How to Love Your Motherland.” |
| They were picked up in downtown Sochi, well clear of the Olympics, and said they were being taken to a police station in the Adler section of town, which is not far from the Olympic Park. Seven others — journalists and activists who were accompanying them — were swept up, too. | They were picked up in downtown Sochi, well clear of the Olympics, and said they were being taken to a police station in the Adler section of town, which is not far from the Olympic Park. Seven others — journalists and activists who were accompanying them — were swept up, too. |
| Semyon Simonov, a human rights activist who was also detained, told The Washington Post by cellphone from the police van that police said the women were picked up as witnesses to a theft in a hotel. | Semyon Simonov, a human rights activist who was also detained, told The Washington Post by cellphone from the police van that police said the women were picked up as witnesses to a theft in a hotel. |
| The two women were released from prison in December under an amnesty announced by President Vladimir Putin after serving nearly two years on charges of hooliganism. They had been convicted of singing a brief protest song criticizing Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church at the altar of Moscow’s main cathedral. Since their release, they have been campaigning for prison reform and considering entering politics. | The two women were released from prison in December under an amnesty announced by President Vladimir Putin after serving nearly two years on charges of hooliganism. They had been convicted of singing a brief protest song criticizing Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church at the altar of Moscow’s main cathedral. Since their release, they have been campaigning for prison reform and considering entering politics. |
| Their detention raised a torrent of criticism and disbelief on Twitter. | Their detention raised a torrent of criticism and disbelief on Twitter. |
| “What idiots to detain them in the middle of the Olympics,” tweeted Alexei Navalny, an opposition leader in Moscow. Referring to the U.S. public relations firm that represents the Kremlin, he wrote: “No Ketchum agency can help them here.” | “What idiots to detain them in the middle of the Olympics,” tweeted Alexei Navalny, an opposition leader in Moscow. Referring to the U.S. public relations firm that represents the Kremlin, he wrote: “No Ketchum agency can help them here.” |
| From Novosibirsk in Siberia, Alex Voronkov tweeted that the Winter Games underway could well become known as the Pussy Riot Olympics. | From Novosibirsk in Siberia, Alex Voronkov tweeted that the Winter Games underway could well become known as the Pussy Riot Olympics. |
| David Khakim, an environmental activist who was sentenced Monday to 30 hours of labor for picketing in support of an imprisoned colleague, was among the group being taken to the police station. So was a photographer for the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, Evgeny Feldman. | David Khakim, an environmental activist who was sentenced Monday to 30 hours of labor for picketing in support of an imprisoned colleague, was among the group being taken to the police station. So was a photographer for the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, Evgeny Feldman. |
| The two women said they were also detained on Saturday and Sunday. Tolokonnikova said police told them they were “wanted.” | |
| The song they were working on, they said, was in support of protesters who are now on trial or imprisoned. As they were detained Tuesday, a trial was beginning in Moscow, where Sergei Udaltsov and Leonid Razvozzhayev are accused of inciting mass rioting in connection with a protest on the eve of Putin’s inauguration as president in May 2012. Udaltsov has been under house arrest for more than a year. Razvozzhayev complained he was kidnapped in Ukraine by Russian security forces and brought to Moscow for trial. | |
| The song, Tolokonnikova said, would also be in support of the “Bolotnaya” prisoners, who are on trial in Moscow for taking part in the same protest. She said another figure in the song was Evgeny Vitishko, sentenced last week to three years in a labor camp for environmental activism in the Sochi region. |