Feminist group Femen has denied involvement in a topless protest at a Moscow polling station, in which three women removed their clothes to reveal blue and yellow Ukrainian flags painted across their bodies.
“This is not Femen,” the group said Sunday via Twitter, attaching a photograph of the protest that had identified the activists as Femen members.
Alexei Shlenov, a deputy chief of the Moscow Electoral Committee, told the Interfax news agency that three women, including a Ukrainian citizen, were detained Sunday during a protest at a Moscow polling station.
The women were later fined 500 rubles ($13) each, Kremlin-friendly LifeNews reported. They could also face trial on administrative charges, Interfax quoted a police source as saying.
Femen, which originated in Ukraine in 2008 and is known for its topless protests, said in a statement on its website that it had not sent any participants to Moscow's polling stations.
Femen also called the protest a “Kremlin provocation,” without elaborating further.