Four people ran onto the field dressed in police uniforms during the second half of the game, and the activist group claimed responsibility and made a list of demands.
MOSCOW — Members of the political activist group Pussy Riot said they staged a disruption of the World Cup final between France and Croatia on Sunday by running onto the field while wearing police uniforms.
During the second half of the game, around the 52-minute mark, four people ran onto the field. They ran toward players before guards in green vests chased and then dragged them off.
The group posted a statement on Twitter, noting that Sunday was the 11th anniversary of the death of Dmitri Prigov, a prolific Russian poet who challenged the authorities in the Soviet Union. One of his best-known cycles of verse was about a Soviet policeman.
One man and three women who ran onto the field were detained and taken to a police station, the Moscow police said in a statement.
The group is known for staging protests against Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin. Three members made headlines in 2012 after a demonstration in a cathedral prompted charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, and the group has continued to challenge Mr. Putin through songs and music videos. Last year, the group’s song “Police State” took aim at state surveillance and police brutality .
A video of the World Cup final shows the members running toward the players and getting shoved by at least one. One of the women ran around before high-fiving a French player, Kylian Mbappé, and one of the other members was half-carried, half-dragged off by his wrists and leg.
The disruption and the members’ costumes drew on Mr. Prigov’s image of a policeman. The group’s statement said there was a “heavenly policeman” that enjoys the celebrations of the World Cup, demonstrates the qualities of good policing and cares about the rules of the game.
The group contrasted this policeman with the “earthly” police force, one that is afraid of the World Cup’s celebrations, detains political prisoners and “enters the game not caring about the rules.”
“The FIFA World Cup has reminded us of the possibilities of the heavenly policeman in the Great Russia of the future, but the earthly policeman, entering the ruleless game breaks our world apart,” the statement said.
In a video on Twitter, the group also posted a list of demands that included releasing political prisoners, putting an end to fabricated criminal accusations to keep people imprisoned and allowing political competition in the country.
