War memorial twerking craze sweeps Russia leading to arrests and jail sentences

A woman has been jailed for twerking in front of a war memorial in Russia, as a craze for performing the suggestive dance in front of patriotic monuments sweeps the country. A court in Pochep, in the Bryansk region of western Russia, found a 21-year-old woman guilty of "petty hooliganism" and jailed her for ten days. The court also fined the parents of three minors, after they posted a video online of themselves performing the dance in front a local memorial to World War II.

This year, nine young women and girls have been jailed or incurred fines for twerking stunts in Russia, with authorities condemning the craze. Government officials have demanded that war memorials be treated as sacred grounds, amid a surge in nationalism under the presidency of Vladimir Putin. The craze was sparked in Novorossiysk in southern Russia in April, where three women, the youngest of whom was 18, were jailed for twerking in front of a war memorial.