Protest performance group say four members ran on to pitch in protest during second half

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The Russian protest performance group Pussy Riot have claimed responsibility for a pitch invasion early in the second half of the World Cup final.

“Right now, there are four members of Pussy Riot on the pitch,” the group wrote on its Facebook page. Later a member of the band, Olga Kurachyova, told Reuters she was one of those who had run on to the pitch. She said she was being detained in a Moscow police station.

The Russian news website Mediazona reported that three women and one man had taken part in the protest and all four had been taken to a nearby police station.

The group said the pitch invasion had been a protest with demands including:

Free political prisoners.



Do not put people in jail for social media “likes”.



Stop illegal detentions at political rallies.



Allow political competition in Russia.



Do not fabricate criminal cases and detain people for no reason.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest A woman is removed from the pitch during the World Cup final between France and Croatia. Photograph: Michael Zemanek/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock

Pussy Riot gained notoriety for a protest inside Moscow’s biggest cathedral in 2012, for which three participants were arrested and jailed. Since then, the three women who were put on trial have separated, with two of them – Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina – still appearing separately using the Pussy Riot name.



The group’s Twitter account said photographs and video would be posted soon. “Hi everyone from the pitch at Luzhniki, it’s cool here,” the tweet read.