SOCHI, Russia — A member of the punk group Pussy Riot said she and one of her bandmates were detained Tuesday while walking in downtown Sochi, the host city of the Winter Olympics.

Local activist Semyon Simonov told The Associated Press the Pussy Riot members were accused of theft and nine people were held in all.

Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova wrote on Twitter that she and Maria Alekhina were stopped and accused of a crime. She said a third member of the loosely organized group also was detained.

“At the moment of detention, we were not conducting any actions, we were walking in Sochi,” Tolokonnikova wrote while being held by police. “We are in Sochi with the goal of staging a Pussy Riot protest. The song is called ‘Putin will teach you to love the motherland.’”

A lawyer for the group, Alexander Popkov, told the AP that police were refusing to say if the group was suspected of a crime or were witnesses. They were taken to the police station in Adler, a suburb of Sochi that is home to the Olympic Park, because a theft had been reported from the hotel where they were staying, Popkov said. No charges have been filed.

“They are in total ignorance of what is going on. They were told they were not being detained but being asked in for questioning but the police are not letting them go,” Popkov said.

Pussy Riot, a performance-art collective which edits its actions into music videos, has become an international flashpoint for those who contend Vladimir Putin’s government has exceeded its authority in dealing with an array of issues, notably human and gay rights.

Tolokonnikova and Alekhina served nearly two years in prison for hooliganism after Pussy Riot members performed a “punk prayer” in Moscow’s main cathedral, calling on the Virgin Mary to save Russia from Putin. The conviction drew attention to Russia’s crackdown on opposition during Putin’s presidency.

The women said their protest performance at the cathedral was aimed at raising concern about the close ties between church and state.

Since their release under an amnesty bill in December, they have made many appearances overseas to push their campaign for improved conditions in Russia’s prisons. Alekhina and Tolokonnikova recently visited the U.S. to take part in an Amnesty International concert.