CAMBRIDGE Mass. (Reuters) - Two members of Russia's Pussy Riot protest group found supporters of their opposition to President Vladimir Putin during their almost two years in prison, even fielding autograph requests from guards, the activists said on Monday.
The pair, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, were jailed after performing a profanity-laced protest against Putin at a Moscow cathedral in 2012. They were released from prison in December, three months before the scheduled end of their sentences and two months before the Sochi Olympics. Many in the West had criticised the harshness of their sentences, charging that Russian authorities were cracking down on political dissent.