Police ‘planted gun’ during raid on Ukrainian feminist group Femen

The Ukrainian feminist group Femen, whose members are known for staging topless protests, have accused police of planting explosives and a gun during a raid on their headquarters in Kiev today in an attempt to close down the organisation.

Femen specialises in shock bare-breasted appearances to dramatise women’s rights causes, especially in the male-dominated hierarchy of Russia, where President Vladimir Putin has often been a target for protests since the prosecution of the female punk group Pussy Riot last year.

Police in Kiev said explosives experts were sent to Femen’s headquarters in the city centre after an anonymous tip-off. Objects resembling a Second World War pistol and grenade were allegedly found during a search. Officers at the scene said they had also found leaflets showing profiles of Mr Putin and the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, pictured in snipers’ cross-hairs.

Anna Gutsol, one of Femen’s main leaders, said: “They say they found these things. But guns, narcotics and such like are not things that we have. It’s absurd.”

Reuters