Russia must protect believers from Pussy Riot: Putin

MOSCOW (AFP) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia was obliged to protect feelings of religious believers in the case of jailed opposition punk rockers Pussy Riot, slamming their antics as an "orgy".

Last month's jailing for two years of three Pussy Riot members for their impromptu anti-Putin performance in a Moscow cathedral aroused international concern but he said the past suffering of the church needed to be understood.

"The state is obliged to protect the feelings of the faithful," Mr Putin said in an interview with the state-controlled Russia Today channel broadcast on Thursday and whose transcript was published by the Kremlin. He said protecting religious believers was especially important given the repression of the now hugely powerful Russian Orthodox Church under Soviet rule.

"The country has very grave memories of the initial period of Soviet rule when a huge number of priests suffered," Mr Putin said. "Many churches were destroyed and all our traditional faiths suffered huge damage."