A Swiss theatre director says Russian immigration officials barged into a Moscow theatre where he was re-enacting a play based on the trial of punk band Pussy Riot in order to check his documents.

Milo Rau said the officials interrupted the play on Sunday 3 March but the raid quickly petered out when it turned out his visa was in order. The warrant they used also had a wrong address on it, Rau said.
"It was more Kafka than Stalin," Rau said Monday 4 March.

Rau was directing a three-day reenactment of trials against Russian artists, including Pussy Riot who staged an impromptu anti-Putin protest in Moscow's main cathedral last year. Three band members were sentenced to two years in prison for "hooliganism," and one of them was later released on appeal.