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
2000 Vladimir Putin presidential campaign instead focused on cultivating the electorate's positive perception of him. Putin, who enjoyed favorable coverage on two of the three major Russian television networks, was disparaging towards the notion of running traditional televised campaign adverts. On 12 January 2000, in Moscow "President-hotel" took place the meeting of the initiative group to nominate Vladimir Putin as a presidential candidate. It included about 200 people, in particular President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev, Sergey Mironov, head of tax police Viktor Zubkov, etc. On 13 January, Vladimir Putin visited St. Petersburg State University, where he received a mantle and a diploma of honorary doctor