Russian police raid Pussy Riot play

A Swiss theatre director has said Russian immigration officials barged into a Moscow theatre where he was re-enacting a play based on the trial of punk band Pussy Riot in order to check his documents.

Milo Rau said the officials interrupted the play yesterday but the raid quickly petered out when it turned out his visa was in order. The warrant they used also had a wrong address on it, he said.

“It was more Kafka than Stalin,” he said today.

Mr Rau was directing a three-day reenactment of trials against Russian artists, including Pussy Riot who staged an impromptu anti-Putin protest in Moscow’s main cathedral last year.

Three band members were sentenced to two years in prison for “hooliganism”, but one was later released on appeal.