Pussy Riot whipped by Cossacks on streets of Sochi
TWO members of Russian women’s punk protest group Pussy Riot were whipped by Cossacks helping patrol the town of Sochi during the Winter Olympics.
Video footage released yesterday showed Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 24, and Maria Alyokhina, 25, who both served prison sentences over a protest in Moscow’s main Orthodox cathedral against President Vladimir Putin, being attacked as five band members tried to perform a song.
Police questioned witnesses, however no-one was arrested.
The group had gathered in a downtown Sochi restaurant, about 20 miles from where the Winter Olympics are being held.
They ran out of the restaurant wearing brightly coloured clothes and ski masks and were set upon by about a dozen Cossacks, who are used by police authorities in Russia to patrol the streets.