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2 Balaclava-Clad Women Detained Near Christ the Savior on Pussy Riot Anniversary

Police detained two women wearing balaclavas Thursday morning in front of Christ the Savior Cathedral, a news report said.

A source in the police department said the two women were let go after receiving a verbal warning, Interfax reported.

Novaya Gazeta reported that the women were activists trying to lay tulips at the site of Pussy Riot's infamous "punk prayer" to commemorate the stunt's one-year anniversary.

The punk prayer, which called for the Holy Mother to "cast Putin out" and was performed inside the cathedral by members of the band wearing balaclavas, cost two of the band's members two years in prison in what many believe was an unjust trial.

Yetaterina Samutsevich, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Maria Alyokhina were sentenced to two years in prison on August 17, but Samutsevich was later released on an appeal.

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