Moscow
Pussy Riot poisoning: German doctors say that a Pussy Riot member who fell seriously ill in Moscow last week was probably poisoned. Peter Verzilov, a member of the punk-rock activist group that stages protests against Russian President Vladimir Putin, experienced blurred vision at a court hearing and became unable to walk straight; he was treated at a Russian hospital and then flown to Berlin. Verzilov, 30, and two other band members recently served 15-day jail sentences for running onto the field during the World Cup final in Moscow in July, to protest Russian police abuses. Pussy Riot founder Nadezhda Tolokonnikova called the poisoning an assassination attempt, saying, “Nobody who has taken part in political activity in Russia can really be safe.”