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
Valdai speech of Vladimir Putin Valdai speech of Vladimir Putin The Valdai speech of Vladimir Putin is a press-coined name for the speech that the Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered at the Valdai International Discussion Club XI session on 24 October 2014, in Sochi City. The overall meeting's theme was ""The World Order: New Rules or a Game without Rules?"" The controversial speech focused on modern global politics. Many analysts considered it a follow-up to Putin's 2007 Munich speech, where he began to outline his views on world order. The initial 40-minute speech was followed by a lengthy press-conference, where Putin answered questions, and made