TASS and Interfax reported that Maria Alyokhina ran over a police officer during her arrest. But the activist herself filmed the arrest on video, where she is without a car and in a different area

On the morning of January 24, the TASS and Interfax agencies, citing police sources, wrote that Pussy Riot activists Maria Alyokhina and Lyusya Shteyn ran over a police officer with a car when they were detained in the Arbat area during a rally in support of Alexei Navalny. However, a video filmed by Alyokhina herself shows that she is without a car, and the detention itself is taking place in a different place.

The agency sources reported that the hit-and-run incident occurred on Bolshoi Afanasyevsky Lane. "The girls, while being detained for participating in an uncoordinated rally in support of Alexei Navalny, hit a police officer with a car on Bolshoi Afanasyevsky Lane. The activists have been detained and are in the police station," the TASS source said.

According to an Interfax source, the policeman's leg was run over. The victim was a sergeant of the 2nd special regiment of the capital's main police department; doctors provided him with assistance.

After this, lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov told Dozhd that law enforcement agencies had not filed any claims against Alekhina and Shtein for the alleged hit-and-run. Zakhvatov emphasized that the activists were not driving a car that day and said that they were detained near the Bolshoi Theater, which is located approximately two kilometers from Bolshoi Afanasyevsky Lane, where, according to TASS and Interfax sources, the hit-and-run occurred. The lawyer noted that protocols were drawn up against the activists under the administrative article for organizing an uncoordinated action.

Soon, the OVD-Info portal posted a video recording that Alekhina herself had made. In the video, a police officer from the 1st special regiment tells Alekhina that a complaint was filed against her and the two people with her because of “calls.” In the video, the activist is without a car; the footage shows the Bolshoi Theater and Okhotny Ryad Street. Meduza checked the video’s metadata and confirmed that it was made late in the evening on January 23, shortly before midnight.

Alyokhina herself also said in a comment to Mediazona that the activists “naturally didn’t hit anyone,” because they don’t have a license or a car. “We don’t know how to drive,” the Pussy Riot member emphasized.

Another Pussy Riot member, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, previously reported that the administrative court hearing on the cases of Alyokhina and Shtein was scheduled to take place at 12:00 on January 24. At the time of writing, its results had not been reported.

Updated . The Presnensky District Court fined Maria Alyokhina 30,000 rubles. Lyusya Shteyn received 10 days of arrest. A criminal case of violence against a government official was opened on the fact of the hit-and-run of the police officer; after the court hearing, Alyokhina and Shteyn were taken to the Investigative Committee for questioning; their status in the case is still unknown.

Grigory Levchenko with the participation of Alexey Kovalev