Femen activist Shevchenko escapes from Ukraine

KYIV, September 5 /UKRINFORM/. Inna Shevchenko, an activist of the Femen women's rights group who cut down with a chainsaw a cross overlooking Independence Square in Kyiv, escaped from Ukraine this night, the group's press service has reported.

Over the past two weeks, Shevchenko has been under the constant surveillance of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and under increased pressure from representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church. Because of this, the council of the organization decided to evacuate Shevchenko abroad, namely to Paris.

Shevchenko got out of her apartment through the balcony, reached the town of Korosten by car and boarded a Kyiv-Warsaw train.

On August 17, Femen activists cut down a cross commemorating victims of political repression in Kyiv. They expressed their solidarity with the members of Russia's Pussy Riot punk band who were convicted for their "punk prayer" at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.