Two members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot were detained briefly Tuesday in central Sochi , after apparently being considered suspects in a theft at their hotel , and then released . `` A survey in connection with the theft at the Hotel Adler is completed , there is no claim against those questioned , '' police said in a prepared statement . Earlier in the day , band members Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were meeting with journalists when police detained them , according to Tolokonnikova 's husband , Petr Verzilov . Russian media corroborated the report . `` They were put to the floor and beaten and physical force was used to them when they refused to be questioned without the presence of their lawyer , who was on his way to the police department , '' Verzilov told reporters . `` Unbelievable lawlessness , even we are amazed , '' tweeted Tolokonnikova . `` Beat on the floor of the department , in the Olympic capital ! '' Invoking the name of Russian President Vladimir Putin , she added , `` They dragged me on the floor in the hall of the department , hands tied behind back and thrown to the floor . Putin will teach you to love the motherland ! '' She said they would file a complaint with the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation . The two women had been walking down a street accompanied by the journalists , three other members of Pussy Riot who use pseudonyms , and two local activists , when a group of about 10 plainclothes police approached them and asked for their identification , said `` Tank , '' one of the anonymous bandmates . The police said they suspected Tolokonnikova may have had something to do with a theft in the hotel where the band members were staying , Tank said . The officers then took away the band members , activists and journalists for questioning . Tolokonnikova , Alyokhina and Tank tweeted the news about their detention from their cell phones , with Tolokonnikova posting photos of what she said was the vehicle that was taking her to a police station . In a separate tweet , Alyokhina said they had been forced into a police van after being stopped near the Church of Mikhail the Archangel and accused of committing a crime . Tank called CNN from the police station , complaining about having to wait there with no information from police . They were not put in handcuffs , she said . Recently free . The band members were in Sochi to protest what they said was the lack of freedom of speech and to record a song in English critical of Putin and called `` Putin will teach you to love the homeland . '' Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina had been imprisoned for nearly two years after being convicted of `` hooliganism '' and inciting religious hatred for performing a punk song slamming Putin in a Moscow cathedral and then posting a video of it online . Since their release , just before the Olympic Games began , they have spoken to journalists about their time behind bars , describing the conditions as squalid and their treatment by guards as demeaning and inhumane . A third member of Pussy Riot , Yekaterina Samutsevich , was released in 2012 . This month , other band members said Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were no longer part of the group , which Verzilov said Tuesday was false .
Police say there is `` no claim '' against detained band members . anti-Putin and Maria Alyokhina were meeting journalists . Police detained them , one other band members , activists and journalists . They were in Olympic to record an Maria Alyokhina political protest song .