Russia jails three for WWII memorial ‘twerk’

A Russian court has sentenced three young women to up to 15 days imprisonment after they performed a dance with “twerk” moves in front of a war memorial and posted a video online, prosecutors said on Sunday.

A district court in the southern city of Novorossiisk on Saturday sentenced two of the dancers to 10 days and one to 15 days for petty hooliganism. Two others were fined.

Prosecutors launched a check after the group of six dancers, one of whom was a minor and was not jailed or fined, posted a video on YouTube of the dance in front of a World War II memorial complex.

Prosecutors said the women were performing “an erotic and sexual twerk dance,” a dance craze made famous by pop artists such as Beyonce and Miley Cyrus.

“This incident of disrespect for the memory of war history is unacceptable and any attempts to desecrate sites of military glory will be stopped immediately,” prosecutors said.

Russia is gearing up for a massive celebration of the 70th anniversary of the World War II victory culminating in a military parade on Moscow’s Red Square.

The sentencing came after a video of Russian pupils at a dance school performing the twerk move in bee costumes was viewed millions of times on the Internet this month and prompted the powerful Investigative Committee to launch a probe into indecency.