Pussy Riot protest band members Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were detained yesterday in connection with a theft in the Winter Olympics host city of Sochi, less than two months after their release from prison under an amnesty.

The pair were held for around three hours at a police station in the Adler district of Sochi, before appearing with other women on the steps outside wearing summer dresses, coloured leggings and their trademark balaclava masks.

Some punched the air in triumph and sang songs as they left the building, where they were greeted by dozens of reporters.

The women were in Sochi with other members of Pussy Riot to record a musical film called “Putin will teach you to love the motherland”.

Putin will teach you to love the motherland

Russian President Vladimir Putin has staked his reputation on the Sochi Games, hoping they would show the world Russia’s modern face more than two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Alyokhina, 25, said they and others detained with them were questioned without lawyers present, and Tolokonnikova said that police had used violence during questioning.

“They dragged me across the floor of the police station assembly hall office by my face, they twisted my arms and threw me to the floor. Putin will teach you to love the motherland!” the 24-year-old wrote on her Twitter page.

Sochi police, who had told Russian agency Interfax that the women were being questioned in relation to a theft in the hotel where they were staying, said they had no further claims against them.

“We have no claims against those questioned,” police told state-owned agency RIA.