A Russian dance trio who tossed Russian flags on the stage during their topless performance is being investigated for “desecration,” the Investigative Committee said on Wednesday.

      In photos uploaded onto one of the Urals news sites the three young girls can be seen  blue shorts and red gloves, dancing apparently bare-breasted with Russian national flags. Another photo shows Russian flags lying on the ground.

      An artistic director for the venue where the women were reportedly performing – the hotel Ural Dawn (Uralskiye Zori) in the Chelyabinsk Region – called the dance a display of patriotism, as in “Go, Russia” – a far cry from desecration.

      But regional investigators are taking the matter very seriously, as flag desecration is punishable by up to a year behind bars.

      In July, the bassist of American rock band Bloodhound Gang caused public outcry after being filmed cramming a Russian flag down his pants and literally wiping his butt with it at a show in Odessa, Ukraine. The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case into the incident, and the band, which by then had come to Russia, quickly had to leave.