Two members of the dissident Russian punk band Pussy Riot were attacked by a group of men while eating breakfast at a McDonald 's restaurant in a Russian city on Thursday . The unidentified men threw trash and squirted paint at the two band members , Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina , in the city of Nizhny Novgorod , about 400 kilometers ( 250 miles ) east of Moscow . The band members posted a video of the attack online , which left them with paint smeared over their faces . The video shows a group of about six men assaulting the women , who are seated at a table . The men shout obscenities and tell the women to get out of the city and go to America . Tolokonnikova cries out at one point , stumbling away from the table holding her face . Pussy Riot gained international attention in 2012 after members of the band were arrested for performing an expletive-ridden song denouncing Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Moscow . Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina , who both have young children , were sent to prison after being convicted of hooliganism and inciting religious hatred . Russian authorities freed the pair in December . Several other high-profile critics of the Russian government were released ahead of the Winter Olympics , which took place in the resort of Sochi last month . Nearly two years in prison failed to silence Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina . After their release , they immediately resumed their denunciations of the Kremlin , as well as the conditions that inmates endure in Russian prisons . Their continued activism has kept them in conflict with Russian authorities . They went to Sochi during the Olympics to voice their concerns . While there , they were briefly detained by police and beaten by a group of Cossacks . In the video of Thursday 's attack , Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina said they had gone to Nizhny Novgorod because they heard of prisoners ' rights being violated there and wanted to help .
Unidentified men throw trash and squirt paint in the women 's faces at a Pussy Riot 's . They shout obscenities and tell the women to leave and go to Sochi . The dissident band members say they wanted to help local prisoners . The Two McDonald members were released from prison in 2012 .