ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)

Pussy Riot protest band members, including Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, were released from a police station on Tuesday, after being held in connection with a theft in the Winter Olympics host city of Sochi.

The pair were held for around three hours at a police station in the Adler district of Sochi, before appearing with other women on the steps outside wearing summer dresses, coloured leggings and their trademark balaclava masks.

Some punched the air in triumph and sang songs as they left the building, where they were greeted by dozens of reporters.

One unidentified member told reporters she believed they were detained for political reasons related to the Olympic Games and criticized the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for their stance on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"There are so many violations of human rights, you know, probably it's a sporting event but why are members of the IOC saying that