In Russia, however, No Pants Subway Ride hasn't had a warm official welcome, and now authorities are indicating that they may seek to punish those involved.

"The Moscow metro administration urges to treat the passengers with respect and follow the common rules of behavior," Moscow Metro authorities said Monday, according to Tass news agency. "The police [are] deciding on the legitimacy of such flash mob and searching for the members of the event."

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According to the Associated Press, Moscow police are now studying the incident to see whether pantless subway riders could be charged with a crime, with some suggesting that the young people who took part in the event Sunday should be charged with disturbing the public order.

It's unclear how many people actually took part in the event in Moscow, though the Associated Press estimates "dozens," and a page on the social network VK suggests that that number is accurate. Improv Everywhere has said that it was the first year the event ever took place in the Russian capital, but a video from 2014 suggests that at least one person took part in the event that year.

The New York City-based group says it does not understand how participants could be targeted. "I can't speak to the local laws of Moscow, but as often as Putin goes shirtless, you would think that showing your bare legs in public would be okay," Charlie Todd, the founder of Improv Everywhere, told WorldViews. "The event happens each year in over 50 cities around the world without incident."

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On the Moscow No Pants Subway Ride's VK page, some angry users have flooded the comments section with insults and slurs, dubbing the participants "morons" and talking about the decline of Russian moral values. However, there were also signs of support and some even saw the No Pants Subway Ride as some kind of political statement.

"Today, no pants, but tomorrow without Putin?" one user wrote.