Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in 1997. In his 2002 interview with "Izvestia", Metropolitan Kirill called the allegations about his profiteering a political campaign against him. Alexander Pochinok who was the minister of taxes and levies (1999-2000), said in 2009 that Kirill had no involvement in the violations. Three female members of the feminist group Pussy Riot were arrested in March 2012 for performing a song in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow during which they called on the Virgin Mary to "chase Putin out". The women were arrested for hooliganism and were later sentenced to two years' imprisonment. The song contained swear words
Crimean speech of Vladimir Putin compared the speech to Hitler's speech on Sudetenland from 1939 as using "the same arguments and vision of history". According to him, this speech played key role in starting the war in Donbass. Crimean speech of Vladimir Putin Crimean speech of President Vladimir Putin refers to a speech by the Russian president Vladimir Putin's on March 18, 2014 to both chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in connection with the request for admission by the Crimean parliament of the republic in the Russian Federation. He spoke in the St. George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace in