video transcript

ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION STORY: Russian punk rock band Pussy Riot released their new song, called "Putin Lights Up the Fires", signalling their intent to continue their protests against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Three Pussy Riot members - Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30 - were convicted last week of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred over their performance of a "punk prayer" urging the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin and sentenced to two years in jail. The Russian president's critics condemned the trial as part of a clampdown on a protest movement and reminiscent of show trials of dissidents in the Soviet era. Russian police said on Monday (August 20) they were searching for other members of the group over the February protest at Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral, but had not yet identified the suspects. They did not say how many people they were looking for, nor whether they faced arrest and charges. Five members of the anonymous feminist punk group stormed the church altar in brightly coloured balaclavas, mismatched dresses and wielding an electric guitar, but only three were arrested and tried. A lawyer for Pussy Riot, Mark Feigin, said he believed police knew the identity of the other two women and had video surveillance footage of them walking into the church. In an interview last week, other members of Pussy Riot - their faces hidden behind colourful masks like those worn during the "punk prayer" - said the trial had only strengthened their resolve to stage new protests.