Russian deputy PM: 'Pussy Riot were asking for conflict'

Russian punk band Pussy Riot, who were beaten and whipped by local authorities for protesting at the Sochi Winter Olympics earlier this week, were 'looking for conflict', according to a Russian official.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina, who were released from prison last year following a protest in a Moscow church, were shoved, pushed to the ground and whipped by Cossacks in Sochi.

"The girls came [to Sochi] with the specific aim of provoking conflict," deputy prime minister Dmitry Kozak is reported as saying by AFP.

"They had looked for it for a long time and in the end they succeeded in having a conflict with the local residents," he continued.

Pussy Riot released a music video earlier this week, entitled "Putin Will Teach You How To Love The Motherland", which contains scenes of the attack they endured at the Black Sea resort.