Pussy Riot claims two members are missing in Crimea after being ‘detained’ by Russian security

The Russian punk band Pussy Riot is claiming that two members of the protest group are missing in Crimea after being detained by Russian security forces.

The band, vocal critics of the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that two of the members had disappeared in the region. Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2012.

“FSB detained them several times,” the group tweeted Tuesday, referring to Russian security forces.

Two Pussy Riot members are missing. Olya Borisova & Sasha Sofeev disappeared in Crimea yesterday.

FSB detained them several times. Yesterday cops broke their phones and computers. We can not reach out to them.

We don’t know what has happened to them. pic.twitter.com/6pRtgCIbi3

— Pussy Riot (@pussyrrriot) February 27, 2018

A spokesperson for Pussy Riot confirmed the details of the tweet to Billboard but said that no more information was available at the time.

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Radio Free Europe reported that three members of the group — Olga Borisova, Aleksandr Sofeyev and Maria Alyokhina — had been detained.

Alyokhina had reportedly texted other members of the group to say she was with the police, but they received no more contact after that message.

Crimean lawyer Emil Kurbedinov told Radio Free Europe that the members were brought to a medical institution for tests but did not provide more information.

Pussy Riot was thrown into the international spotlight after members were arrested in 2012 over a performance at a Moscow cathedral. They were considered political prisoners at the time.

UPDATE: A day later, the group’s Twitter account said the two members were safe.

we found Sasha and Olya. they were detained several times but safe now.

thank you for your help!!

— Pussy Riot (@pussyrrriot) February 27, 2018