Police stall Pussy Riot play

Moscow police interrupted a play featuring the trial of punk rockers Pussy Riot yesterday and warned its Swiss director for violating visa rules in what a government critic said was part of an anti-Western campaign.

Federal Migration Service officers delayed the performance of Moscow Trials at a theatre at Moscow’s Sakharov Center for an hour as they issued a verbal warning to director Milo Rau.

The play features three recent trials, including one which ended in August with jail terms for ““hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” for three members of the Pussy Riot band for staging a profanity-laced protest in Moscow’s main cathedral last February.

The band said the protest was meant to draw attention to close ties between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Kremlin.

Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov said the raid was part of an anti-Western drive fostered by Russian president Vladimir Putin.

“Our leadership is suffering a grave form of spymania... the fight against the West has become a number one priority in its policies,” said Nemtsov.

No formal punishment was imposed on Rau for allegedly violating visa conditions, Interfax quoted Sergei Kalyuzhny, Federal Migration Service deputy head as saying Rau “entered [Russia] on a business visa, which does not allow any working activity”.