Russian artist held for torching security service HQ door

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Russian authorities on Monday detained a political performance artist best known for nailing his scrotum to Red Square after he torched the doors to the headquarters of the FSB security service, the successor to the KGB. Pyotr Pavlensky set fire to the wooden doors of the sprawling FSB building in downtown Moscow around 1:00am (Sunday 2200 GMT), his lawyer Olga Chavdar told AFP from the Moscow police station where he was being held.

A video posted online shows flames leaping to the top of the doorway as Pavlensky stands in front of it holding a petrol canister, before a policeman comes running up. The video titled “The Burning Door of the Lubyanka” — referring to the popular name for the symbolic security service headquarters — can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/145096472. In a message released along with the video, Pavlensky said: “The FSB acts using a method of unending terror and holds power over 146 million people.” (AFP)

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