Earlier this week, it was reported that Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, the two still-imprisoned members of Russian punk group Pussy Riot, had been sent to remote prison camps, described by the band as ”the harshest camps of all the possible choices”.

Now, it seems Russian president Vladimir Putin is determined to add insult to injury. Speaking yesterday, Putin reiterated his view that the group had broken the law and deserved to be punished – though he wouldn’t specify whether he thought that the group members’ two year sentencing was too harsh, instead saying that “whether the sentence was too much or too little is not for me to judge … that is a matter for the court.”. He couldn’t resist, however, a dig at the group’s feminist principles, claiming that “if they had not broken the law, they would now be at home, doing the housework, or back at their jobs” [via The Belfast Telegraph].

Three members of the group were sentenced earlier this year, having been arrested in February for performing an anti-Putin protest at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Yekaterina Samutsevich has since been freed on appeal.