MOSCOW, July 16 (RAPSI) – Administrative cases have been launched against four activists behind a pitch invasion during FIFA World Cup 2018 final match between Croatia and France, the press-service of the Interior Ministry’s Moscow department has stated.

Alleged perpetrators are charged with unlawful behavior of spectators during official sport events and face fines of up to 10,000 rubles ($160), 60 hours of community service and prohibition from visiting sport events for three years. They are also charged with illegally wearing state uniforms and face fines of up to 1,500 rubles ($24).

On July 15, on the 52th minute of the match, four people broke through to the football field. Later, Pussy Riot group announced on its Facebook page that its members organized a public action called “Militiaman enters the game”.

The feminist punk group Pussy Riot became known in February 2012, when five young women wearing brightly colored balaclavas staged a punk rock prayer in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral. An edited video of their performance was posted on the Internet and caused a public outcry.

In August 2012, the Khamovnichesky District Court in Moscow sentenced Maria Alyokhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova to two years for hooliganism. In October 2012, the Moscow City Court changed Samutsevich's verdict to a suspended sentence and released her immediately based on her new attorneys' argument that she had been seized by security guards prior to reaching the altar. In December 2013, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were pardoned under the amnesty dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Russian Constitution.