Migration authorities will expel notorious Ukrainian female activists who stripped at a polling station in Moscow to protest alleged violations at the Russian presidential elections.
Federal Migration Service is preparing paperwork to have the three activists of the Femen group kicked out of the country, the Interior Ministry said on Monday, without providing a timeframe for the expulsion.
Three members of the extravagant protest group stripped on Sunday at a polling station where Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a favorite of the race, voted that day.
The activists had “I steal for Putin” written on their bodies and shouted anti-Putin slogans, accusing him of preparing to rig the vote, allegations widely repeated by Putin’s critics during the campaign.
The activists were detained and whisked away to a police precinct within minutes. Putin never saw the stunt, having left the polling station along with his wife Lyudmila minutes before Femen hit it.
The activists were already given short-term arrest over the incident. They may also be banned from future entry to Russia, which has a visa-free regime with Ukraine.
Femen, active since 2008, have made a name for themselves on their home turf with their topless events, which they say are to protest gender discrimination and oppression of political freedoms. They went global in recent months, staging protests in Vatican City, Belarus and Russia, where they protested gas monopoly Gazprom’s tariff policies in February.
