Pussy Riot member: "We would still like to drive him out"

A freed member of punk band Pussy Riot today said she still wanted Russian President Vladimir Putin to be removed from power.Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 24, added she would like freed ex-tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky to stand in elections and replace Putin.'As far as Vladimir Putin is concerned, our attitude towards him has not changed,' she said alongside her bandmate Maria Alyokhina at their first news conference since they were released from prison earlier this week.'We would still like to do what they put us in jail for. We would still like to drive him out,' she addedIn February 2012, several members of Pussy Riot jumped on the altar the Christ the Saviour Cathedral and attempted to sing a 'punk prayer' calling on the Virgin Mary to 'drive Putin out.'They said they were denouncing political ties between Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church and had not wanted to offend believers.She said she would like Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was last week released under a pardon after spending more than a decade in jail, to run for president.She said: 'I would very much like to invite Mikhail Borisovich [Khodorkovsky] to this post.'Band mate Maria Alyokhina, 25, added: 'I am in solidarity with that.'When asked to described President Putin, Tolokonnikova said he was 'closed, non-transparent' and 'a chekist' - using a Soviet era term for a member of security services. Earlier today the women, who both have small children, arrived back in Moscow after reuniting in Siberia.Alyokhina had already passed through Moscow after being released from prison and met with Tolokonnikova just after her release from detention.They were released two months early from their two-year prison terms after an amnesty backed by Putin.Alyokhina, Tolokonnikova and other bandmate Yekaterina Samutsevich, 31, executed the stunt at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in February 2012.The trio were later arrested and in August 2012 found guilty on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.Samutsevich was released in October after being given a suspended sentence, but a Moscow city court upheld on appeal the two-year prison camp terms for Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina.(dailymail.co.uk)ANN.Az