Updated at 11:29 a.m. ET: MOSCOW --  A judge sentenced three women who staged an anti-Kremlin protest on the altar of Moscow's main Russian Orthodox church to two years in jail each on Friday in a trial seen as test of President Vladimir Putin's tolerance of dissent.

The trio from punk band Pussy Riot, handcuffed in a courtroom cage, reacted with giggles and one rolled her eyes when the judge issued the sentences after reading the guilty verdict for almost three hours.

A man in the courtroom shouted "Shame!" and hundreds of protesters outside the Moscow courthouse repeated that chant and whistled when news of the sentence came.

"They are in jail because it is Putin's personal revenge," opposition leader Alexei Navalny said in the courtroom. "This verdict was written by Vladimir Putin."

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, were convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for performing a "punk prayer" in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral. They called on the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin.

Their feminist punk collective has about 10 members who appear in public in ski masks for anonymous impromptu performances they describe as a form of protest art.

The defendants said they were protesting against close ties between Putin and the Russian Orthodox church and did not intend to offend believers, but the judge rejected those arguments.

The U.S. Embassy in Russia criticized the sentences.

"Today's sentence in the Pussy Riot case looks disproportionate to the actions," the U.S. Embassy in Russia wrote in Russian on Friday on its Twitter microblog.

Pussy Riot supporters protest at Russian cathedral as global campaign heats up

Prosecutors had requested three-year sentences. The two-year sentences include the nearly six months served since the defendants were jailed following the Feb. 21 protest.

Natalia Kolesnikova / AFP - Getty Images

Members of the punk band Pussy Riot -- Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, center, Maria Alyokhina, right, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, left -- are escorted Friday by policewomen inside a Moscow court building.

In a sign of the tension over the trial in a small Moscow courtroom, Judge Marina Syrova was assigned bodyguards on Thursday following what authorities said were threats.

Divisions
The trial divided Russia's Orthodox Christians, with many backing the authorities' demands for severe punishment, but others saying the women should be granted clemency.

The trial featured a parade of state witnesses who say they were traumatized by the church performance, which prosecutors called an abuse of God.

Russia's Pussy Riot: Unmasked and on trial

Ahead of the verdict, their lawyers said the outcome will be dictated by the Kremlin. Putin's supporters denied that and portrayed the women as blasphemers and self-publicists who should be punished for committing a premeditated outrage against the Church.

Members of Pussy Riot were found guilty Friday after staging this protest on Feb. 21, 2012, inside Christ The Savior Cathedral in Moscow.

"It was a conscious deed. They understood quite clearly where they were going and why," said Vladimir Burmatov, who represents Putin's United Russia party in parliament.

Pussy Riot was formed last year in anger at Putin's decision to return to the presidency in an election after four years as premier. The band's public performances were popular on the Internet, but it is the trial that has brought them global fame.

The charges against them raised concern abroad about freedom of speech in Russia two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Small, but raucous protests were held Friday in a few dozen cities in support of the three women. A few dozen people came out in Barcelona, Spain, a couple hundred in Paris, and a handful in Washington. Other rallies were held in Bulgaria, Ukraine and elsewhere.

More Russia coverage from NBCNews.com

The opposition says Putin saw the trial initially as a chance to strengthen his relationship with the influential Russian Orthodox Church -- about 70 percent of Russians say they follow the faith -- but his plans backfired.

Although believers were united in outrage that the band thrashed out a "punk prayer" deriding Putin in a place they consider sacrosanct, many were upset by the Church hierarchy's lack of forgiveness and calls for "divine retribution."

From March 2012: Anti-Putin activists pay high price, but refuse to back down

Many Russians, including some of the Orthodox faithful, are concerned about ties between church and state under Patriarch Kirill, who has praised Putin's rule as a "miracle of God."

Aware that a long sentence could reinforce the picture Pussy Riot has painted of him as intolerant and repressive, Putin told reporters this month that although the women had done "nothing good," they should not be judged too harshly.

But the damage to Putin's image abroad has already been done, and divisions between his supporters and opponents have widened, risking polarizing society even more than when protests took off against his 12-year-rule during the winter.

Complete World news coverage on NBCNews.com

In moves seen by the opposition as a crackdown, parliament has recently rushed through laws increasing fines for protesters, tightening controls on the Internet -- which is used to arrange protests -- and imposing stricter rules on defamation.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More world stories from NBC News:

• Seven American soldiers die in Afghan chopper crash
• Report: 30 dead in Syrian air strike; strife spills into Lebanon
• What's causing Afghan troops to turn on coalition forces?
• NZ skydiver hits ground after parachute fails
• I'd like a beer, 70-year-old says after icy 6-day ordeal in Alps
• Germany arrests 4 suspected of violating Iran embargo
• Study: Japan nuclear disaster caused mutated butterflies

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Yevgeny Feldman / AFP - Getty Images

Supporters of Pussy Riot hold individual letters that spell the phrase "Blessed are the merciful" outside the Church of Christ the Savior in central Moscow on Wednesday.

MOSCOW -- Security guards scuffled with masked protesters who demonstrated outside Moscow's main cathedral on Wednesday in support of three members of Pussy Riot, as a wave of global support for the Russian punk rockers gained speed.

Witnesses said 18 demonstrators in colorful balaclavas -- similar to those worn by the band members when they staged an irreverent protest at the same church -- mounted the steps of Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral and held up black cards with white letters spelling out the phrase, "Blessed are the merciful."

Guards moved swiftly to disperse the demonstrators and treated some of them roughly, Internet TV channel Dozhd reported. Pussy Riot supporters said on social media that at least two people had been detained.

A Moscow court is to issue a verdict on Friday following the trial of the three women who sang a "punk prayer" on the altar of Christ the Savior -- Moscow's main cathedral -- in February, calling on the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Vladimir Putin, then prime minister and now president.

Prosecutors want the judge to convict Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and sentence each to three years in prison.

Putin has said the women should not be judged too harshly, but he risks appearing weak if they walk free.

Winning over hearts abroad
Since their arrests, the women have been vilified by the Russian state media -- while winning over hearts abroad.

Supporters of the band will mobilize this week in at least a two dozen cities worldwide to hold simultaneous demonstrations an hour before the court issues its verdict.

Russia's Pussy Riot: Unmasked and on trial

Calls for the women to be freed have come from a long list of celebrities such as Madonna and Bjork. Protests have been held in a number of Western capitals, including Berlin, where last week about 400 people joined Canadian electro-pop performance artist Peaches to support the band.

In one of the most extravagant displays, Reykjavik Mayor Jon Gnarr rode through the streets of the Icelandic capital in a Gay Pride parade this weekend dressed like a band member -- wearing a bright pink dress and matching balaclava -- while lip-synching to one of Pussy Riot's songs.

PhotoBlog: Pussy Riot fans wear balaclavas to rally behind band

Amnesty International has called the women prisoners of conscience and begun collecting signatures by text message for a petition to be sent to the Russian government, while the U.S. State Department has repeatedly expressed its concern.

Madonna donned a balaclava during a concert in Moscow last week and had "Pussy Riot" written on her bare back. Yoko Ono sent a personal message to Samutsevich, saying that "the power of your every word is now growing in us."

A group of leading British musicians, including Pete Townshend of the Who and members of the Pet Shop Boys, published a letter in The Times of London ahead of Putin's visit during the Olympics to urge him to give the Pussy Riot members a fair hearing.

On Friday, activists in more than a dozen cities, from Moscow to Toronto, are expected to take to the streets at 2 p.m. Moscow time (4 a.m. ET), an hour before the judge is to issue the verdict. The protests are being coordinated by the defense lawyers.

Venues vary from the square outside the ornate Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona to the yard outside the Russian Embassy in London.

More Russia coverage from NBCNews.com

In Paris, the protest will be held on Stravinsky Square and led by 29-year-old Alexey Prokopyev from Russie-Libertés, a Paris-based organization formed in December to bring together Russians studying or working in France.

"Most people go to these rallies in Paris because we cannot be in Russia at the moment for various reasons -- because of jobs, classes," said Prokopyev, who was born in the Soviet Union and has spent most of the past 17 years in France. "We all wish we were in Moscow now, but since we can't we do it in Paris."

Russie-Libertés also is helping to organize rallies in Marseille, Nice, Lyons and Montpellier.

From March 2012: Anti-Putin activists pay high price, but refuse to back down

Prokopyev said that he and his peers "want Russia to be a normal country" and be able to elect a president "who doesn't make the country where we were born a laughingstock."

In New York, Friday's protest will take place outside the Russian Consulate and later on Times Square.

"It's absurd that this case is being treated as criminal, while in any other civilized country that would be merely an administrative offense," said Xenia Grubstein, a 31-year-old journalist helping to organize the New York protest.

'Serious problems' with vote that kept Putin in power, monitors say

A protest is also planned in Washington, where last month punk rockers and arts activists rallied outside the Russian Embassy.

'Putin's Russia'
In France, Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti last week issued a statement expressing concern that artistic freedom was on trial.

Complete international news coverage on NBCNews.com

A German cross-party group of lawmakers sent a letter to the Russian ambassador calling the five months the band members have spent in custody and the possible prison terms "draconian and disproportionate" punishment.

The international press has been full of critical reports from the trial. One of Germany's most influential magazines, Der Spiegel, featured the band on its cover: a picture of Tolokonnikova behind bars and the headline "Putin's Russia."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

More world stories from NBC News:

• Study: Japan nuclear disaster caused mutated butterflies
• Restaurateur claims Games cost her business $140,000
• Video: Virtual tour of the next Olympic city
• Will world inaction help al-Qaida gain foothold in Syria?
• Analysis: Egypt's Morsi shows he's a force to be reckoned with
• Vatican says the 'butler did it,' orders trial
• London 2012: Who were the real winners, losers?

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Yuri Kochetkov / EPA

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a member of the Pussy Riot punk group, is escorted Tuesday to Khamovnichesky district court for the next session of her trial in Moscow.

MOSCOW -- Prosecutors on Tuesday called for three-year sentences for the members of a feminist punk band who performed an anti-Vladimir Putin stunt in Moscow's main cathedral, ignoring demands by human rights groups that the three women be set free.

Prosecutor Alexander Nikiforov portrayed the request as lenient, saying it takes into account the fact that two of the defendants are young mothers and that they have good references.

The hooliganism charges the three women face can carry a sentence of up to 7 years in prison.

The three women — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23; Maria Alekhina, 24; and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29 — have been in custody for five months following the February stunt, in which they took over a church pulpit in Christ the Savior cathedral for less than a minute, singing, high-kicking and dancing.

Their case is part of a widening government crackdown on dissent that followed Putin's election in March and caused strong protests in Russia and abroad. Musicians including Madonna, the Who's Pete Townshend and Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys have urged their release, and Amnesty International has called them prisoners of conscience.

The verdict is expected this week.

Divisive trial
The trial has sharply divided Russia. Some believers felt insulted by the act, while rights groups have declared the women prisoners of conscience.

Don't judge Pussy Riot too harshly, Putin says

Orthodox leaders have ignored calls by many believers to pardon the women and urge the court to dismiss the case.

The defendants have said their goal was to express their resentment over Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill's support for Putin's rule. But prosecutors have insisted throughout the trial that there were no political motives behind the performance.

"They set themselves off against the Orthodox world and sought to devalue traditions and dogmas that have been formed for the centuries," Nikiforov said Tuesday.

From March 2012: Anti-Putin activists pay high price, but refuse to back down

'Punk prayer'
Members of the band say they did not mean to hurt anyone's religious feelings when they performed the "punk prayer."

Larisa Pavlova, a lawyer for the church employees who were described as the injured party in the case told the court on Tuesday that she supports the sentencing recommendation.

More on this story from British broadcaster ITV News

Pavlova said most hooliganism in Russia is committed when people are drunk and they often regret what they have done — but the defendants "thoroughly planned, rehearsed (their performance) and were fully aware of what they were doing."

"And they had the audacity to say in court that they did the right thing, that it's OK and that they're ready to keep on doing such things," Pavlova said.

Tolokonnikova chuckled as Pavlova mentioned in her speech that feminism in Russia is incompatible with Orthodox faith.

Pussy Riot lawyer Violetta Volkova voiced the band's complaint that the women had been deprived of sleep and food throughout the trial, describing it as "torture."

Russian lawyers say Pussy Riot women mistreated

"In this trial, authorities, not the girls, have dealt a crushing blow on the Russian Orthodox Church," Volkova said. "Time has turned back — back to the Middle Ages."

The trial has sharply divided Russia. Some believers felt insulted by the act, while rights groups have declared the women prisoners of conscience.

PhotoBlog: Punk rockers Pussy Riot in court over anti-Putin protest

Orthodox leaders have ignored calls by many believers to pardon the women and urge the court to dismiss the case.

Lawyer: Disproportionate charges
Mark Feygin, a lawyer for the band, told the court that the charges the women are facing are disproportionate to what they have done:

"Many of the things they have done were clumsy and too shocking, but there are no grounds for criminal prosecution here," he told the court.

More Russia coverage from NBCNews.com

Feygin said that the guilty verdict would "break a bond between the government and people for good" and that "society will never forgive the state for persecuting the innocent."

Russian veteran rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva told the Interfax news agency that a jail sentence for Pussy Riot would be "a disgrace for Russia and the Orthodox Church."

Amnesty International has said it considers the three women to be prisoners of conscience "detained solely for the peaceful expression of their beliefs."

Complete international coverage on NBCNews.com

Archdeacon Andrei Kurayev, an influential Orthodox blogger and Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy, warned in an interview with the RIA Novosti news agency on Tuesday that jail time for Pussy Riot would "turn them into martyrs" and would only feed hostility toward the church.

More world stories from NBC News:

• Are these German protesters the world's oldest squatters?
• Will Games curse leave 'ghost town' London out of the gold rush?
• Interpol drops 'red notice' for dissident
• Race to London's Olympic Park: Fastest way is ...?
• Journalist: British militants took me hostage in Syria
• At Hiroshima memorial, Japan leaders vow to listen
• Olympic hosts: Londoners open their homes to the world
• Canada lobster fishermen lash out at cheaper US exports
• Slideshow: The lives of Syria rebels fighting for freedom

Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, watches judo with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday at the ExCel Centre during the London 2012 Olympic Games.

LONDON - Black-belted Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister David Cameron locked horns Thursday over Syria and Moscow's crackdown on political opponents in a day of judo diplomacy at the Olympics.

But before the two attended an Olympic judo match, Cameron admitted to reporters at his official residence at 10 Downing Street that Britain and Russia still differed over how to handle the civil conflict gripping Syria.

"There have been some differences in the positions that we have taken over the Syrian conflict," Cameron told reporters.

Western countries want Putin to take a tougher line on Syria, Russia's firmest foothold in the Middle East, and stop blocking Western-backed resolutions aimed at stepping up pressure on President Bashar Assad.

"We both want to see an end to that conflict and a stable Syria and we will discuss with our foreign ministers how to take this agenda forward," he said.

Putin told reporters through a translator that Russia and Britain shared common ground on some areas over Syria.

"We take notice of the fact there are some things that we see eye to eye on and we agreed to continue working to find a viable solution," Putin said.

Russia's 59-year-old president has also faced pressure over an intensifying Kremlin campaign to silence dissent after members of a women's punk band went on trial and a prominent opposition blogger was charged with embezzlement.

Obama authorizes secret US support for Syrian rebels

As Putin entered the prime minister's office in central London, one protester screamed: "Free Pussy Riot", which echoed across Downing Street, in reference to the band who sang out an anti-Putin punk prayer in Moscow's main cathedral.

Slideshow: The lives of Syrian rebels

NBC News

People resisting the army of President Bashar Assad in northern Syria cope with loss and prepare for fighting.

Launch slideshow

A one-time judo champion in his native city of St. Petersburg, Putin was likely to be at his combative best during his first visit to Britain in years.

For the Kremlin leader, who revels in his tough-guy image, the sight of judokas body-slamming each other on the Olympic mat offered a powerful backdrop to his talks with Cameron.

Full coverage of London 2012: Hosting the Games

Body language
Their body language and dynamics will be watched closely for any clues on the progress of the talks.

London Mayor Boris Johnson said he hoped Putin would strip off to take part in the judo.

"Oh, I hope he will take part. What is he, a dab (hand), I think that's what we want to see, stripped to the waist. We want the politicians Olympics, that's what we want," Johnson told reporters.

London's funny zip-lining mayor taken seriously

Russia has faced growing Western criticism of its position on Syria, with the United States and Britain demanding Moscow drop its support for Assad.

Western powers believe that ousting Assad is the only way to end the bloodshed in Syria. Russia, on the other hand, provides arms to Damascus and has blocked three Western resolutions calling for an increase in pressure on Assad.

Jan. 24 PhotoBlog: Black belt Putin gives a judo lesson to young students

Apart from Syria, talks will probably touch on Russia's tense political situation where critics say authorities seek to silence Putin's opponents through unfair accusations and trials.

In a letter in The Times newspaper of London (site operates behind a pay wall), a dozen leading rock musicians including Jarvis Cocker urged Putin to give a fair trial to women's rock band Pussy Riot, whose members face up to seven years in jail for protesting inside the Moscow cathedral.

Punk rockers go on trial over anti-Putin church protest

Officially, both sides have said talks would focus on trade.

"The sides will discuss what can be done to boost trade. Apart from this, in the course of the talks, the Syrian situation will be discussed in great detail as well as other regional problems," a Kremlin spokesman said.

"We see it as another possibility ... to explain our arguments, the Russian Federation's clear, consistent and transparent position," the spokesman said.

Thursday's judo bouts include the men's 100 kilogram (220 lbs.) and women's 78 kilogram (172 lbs.) competitions. Russia's Tagir Khaibulaev and Vera Moskalyuk as well as Britain's James Austin and Gemma Gibbons are expected to compete in Thursday match ups.

Russia charges anti-Putin protester Alexei Navalny in latest crackdown on dissent

'Alpha-dog'
Putin, whose testosterone-fueled appearances have earned him the nickname "alpha-dog" in U.S. diplomatic cables, is in London - home to many influential Russians and political exiles - on a private visit at Cameron's invitation.

But diplomatic efforts are complicated by Russia's difficult relations with Britain itself, ranging from espionage to human rights to the 2006 death from radiation poisoning in London of Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko.

More Europe coverage on NBCNews.com

"He (Putin) is not welcome in London, neither by Russians who live here or Londoners themselves," Litvinenko's widow, Marina, who lives in Britain, told Reuters.

"It will not be a comfortable visit for Putin. A lot of uneasy questions will be raised," she said.

Aimed at home audience?
Observers said Putin's show of strength in London could be in part aimed at the audience at home, where Putin has hardened his anti-Western rhetoric in response to a wave of anti-government protests this year.

Complete international news coverage on NBCNews.com

"From his choice seat at the Olympic Games Mr Putin will be closely watching the international reaction to his latest crackdown," Garry Kasparov, a liberal opposition leader and former world chess champion, wrote in The Times newspaper.

Russian dissidents in London held a small protest outside Russia's embassy ahead of the visit, shouting "Shame on Putin" and "Russia will be free."

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, on his official Twitter account, said: "Interesting today to see if any decent protests against Putin his phony trials of dissenters. Russia even less free speech than here."

More world stories from NBC News:

• Obama authorizes secret US support for Syrian rebels
• London's funny, zip-lining mayor taken very seriously
• US: Leaders' deaths put al-Qaida on 'path of decline'
• Good, bad or ugly? Street artists weigh in on Olympics
• Chinese defend swimmer's gold, know Western bias
• Karzai:a 'prisoner in his palace'?
• Video: Syrian rebels obtain anti-aircraft missiles
• Video: 'Blitz Spirit' lives on in London's East End
• Greenland again sees widespread ice melt

Mikhail Voskresensky / Reuters

Prominent anti-corruption blogger and opposition figure Alexei Navalny leaves the Investigative Committee in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday.

MOSCOW -- Russian investigators charged street protest leader Alexei Navalny with theft Tuesday and banned him from leaving the country, threatening a heavy jail term in what supporters say is a growing crackdown on dissent by President Vladimir Putin.

Navalny, an anti-corruption blogger who has organized demonstrations that have dented Putin's authority, dismissed the charge as absurd and other opposition leaders accused Putin of using KGB-style tactics to try to silence his critics.

Other moves which the opposition depict as a crackdown on dissent since Putin began a six-year term in May include a law increasing fines for protesters, closer controls of the Internet and tighter rules for foreign-funded campaign and lobby groups.

Russia's federal Investigative Committee said in a statement that Navalny, 36, had been charged over the theft of timber from a state firm while he was advising a regional governor in 2009, and he could face a 10-year sentence.

"I have been charged and ordered not to leave," Navalny said after emerging from the Investigative Committee headquarters, where he had been summoned for the presentation of what he had expected would be a less severe charge.

"This is really quite absurd and very strange because they have completely changed the essence of the accusation, compared to what it was before," Navalny, who had been questioned repeatedly since the case was opened in 2010, told reporters.

He made clear he would not be silenced. "I will continue to do what I have been doing, and in this sense nothing changes for me," said Navalny, who is also a lawyer. "We believe that what is happening now is illegal. We will use the methods of legal defense at our disposal. What else can we do?"

From March 2012: Anti-Putin activists pay high price, but refuse to back down

Leading voice of dissent
Navalny is one of the few people seen as capable of emerging as a viable leader of the fractious opposition, although critics say he has nationalist tendencies.

He gained prominence by fighting corruption at state-controlled companies and used the Internet to do so, appealing to a tech-savvy generation of urban Russians who have turned away from the mainstream media.

Before parliamentary elections last December he helped to energize a struggling opposition, popularizing a phrase referring to the ruling United Russia party, then headed by Putin, as the "party of swindlers and thieves."

'Serious problems' with vote that kept Putin in power, monitors say

He was also among the leaders of large protests prompted by allegations of fraud in the election on behalf of United Russia, which saw its big majority in parliament cut to a handful of seats despite the accusations that it had cheated.

'Mortal fear'
"This case has been fabricated from beginning to end," said Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister who is a prominent Putin opponent. "The true reason for what is happening is Putin's mortal fear of losing power. ... He is wildly afraid of the opposition, including Navalny."

More Europe coverage from NBCNews.com

In a reference to the Cheka secret police, a precursor of the Soviet KGB, Nemtsov said: "Putin is using traditional Chekist methods. ... Fabricated cases, charges, arrests, jail."

Putin won a presidential election on March 4 despite the largest protests since the start of his 12-year rule, during which he has served as president for eight years and as prime minister for four. At times attendance at the rallies reached more than 100,000, witnesses said, although they have become less frequent since Putin returned to power.

But opponents say a series of steps he has taken in recent months to tighten control show the former KGB agent is worried about losing his grip on the world's largest country.

Punk rockers go on trial over anti-Putin church protest

Tough censorship law
Putin, who has repeatedly warned against rocking the boat in speeches since his election, signed a law on Monday toughening punishment for defamation and another on Tuesday that opponents say could be used to censor the Internet.

More Russia coverage from NBCNews.com

In a case which critics say will indicate how he plans to treat opponents during his new term, three women from the punk band "Pussy Riot" went on trial Monday over an unsanctioned protest performance at the altar of Russia's main cathedral, where they called on the Virgin Mary to "throw Putin out!"

Their trial entered its second day Tuesday in a Moscow court, and they face up to seven years in jail over a protest they say was aimed against the close relationship between Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church.

Navalny had been detained and served brief terms in custody several times over administrative offenses linked to the protests, but had never been charged with a more serious crime.

Complete international coverage on NBCNews.com

Lawyers for Navalny had said Friday they expected he would be charged over the case in Kirov province. But they had expected him to face a different charge punishable by up to five years in jail, rather than 10.

The Investigative Committee said more than 10,000 cubic meters of timber were stolen as the result of a plot between Navalny and two company chiefs, causing the regional government to lose more than 16 million roubles ($497,000).

More world stories from NBC News:

• Military drafted in to fill empty seats at London Olympics
• Romney would 'respect' Israel strike on Iran, aide says
• Rome's leaning Colosseum has experts worried
• 2 US climbers found dead on Peruvian peak
• Olympic crasher marched at Opening Ceremony
• Elephants slaughtered, orphan found in latest Africa poaching

News on NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a member of female punk band Pussy Riot, is escorted by police as she arrives at a Moscow court on Monday.

Updated at 9:20 a.m. ET: MOSCOW - Three women who protested against Vladimir Putin in a "punk prayer" on the altar of Russia's main cathedral went on trial Monday in a case seen as a test of the longtime leader's treatment of dissent during a new presidential term.

The members of the band Pussy Riot face up to seven years in prison for an unsanctioned performance in February in which they entered Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral, ascended the altar and called on the Virgin Mary to "throw Putin out!"

Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29, were brought to Moscow's Khamovniki court for Russia's highest-profile trial since former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was convicted in 2010.

Governments and rights groups, as well as musicians such as Sting, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Franz Ferdinand, have expressed concern about the trial, reflecting doubts that Putin - who is serving his third presidential term and could be in power until 2024 - will become more tolerant of dissenting voices.

On Monday, supporters chanted "Girls, we're with you!" and "Victory!" as the women, each handcuffed by the wrist to a female officer, were led from a white and blue police van into the courthouse through a side entrance. Streets around the court, on a high Moscow River embankment, were closed.

More Russia coverage from NBCNews.com

They were led into a metal and clear-plastic courtroom cage, where they milled and spoke with lawyers as preparations began. Tolokonnikova, in a blue checkered shirt, lowered her head to speak through a small opening in the enclosure. Two pairs of handcuffs hung at the ready just beside her face.

"We did not want to offend anybody," Tolokonnikova said, speaking to a defense lawyer who stood outside the enclosure. "We admit our political guilt, but not legal guilt."

The band's stunt was designed to highlight the close relationship between the dominant Russian Orthodox Church and former KGB officer Putin, then prime minister, whose campaign to return to the presidency in a March election was backed clearly, if informally, by the leader of the church, Patriarch Kirill.

'Serious problems' with vote that kept Putin in power, monitors say

Symbolically, the trial is taking place in the same Moscow courthouse where Khodorkovsky was found guilty of stealing his own oil in a trial in 2010 that many Western politicians said looked like a crude Kremlin attempt to keep a man it saw as a political threat behind bars.

'Our motives are exclusively political'
The women are charged with hooliganism motivated by religious hatred or hostility.

But in opening statements read by a defense lawyer, who sometimes struggled with the handwritten texts, they said they were protesting against Kirill's political support for Putin and had no animosity toward the church or the faithful.

"I have never had such feelings toward anyone in the world," Tolokonnikova said in her statement. "We are not enemies of Christians ... our motives are exclusively political."

"We only want Russia to change for the better," she said.

Alyokhina's statement said: "I thought the church loved all its children, but it seems the church loves only those children who love Putin."

Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

Maria Alyokhina, a member of Pussy Riot, arrives at a Moscow court on Monday.

The women looked thinner and paler than they did when they were jailed following the performance in late February, shortly before Putin, in power as president from 2000-2008 and then as prime minister, won a six-year presidential term on March 4.

"She looks like she has been on a long hunger strike," Stanislav Samutsevich said of his daughter. "Her cheeks are hollow … I've never seen her in such a state. I think this is like an inquisition, like mockery."

A reporter on state-run Rossiya-24 television presented a different picture, focusing on occasional smiles and chuckles and an overall air of self-assuredness among the women, who whispered to each other as a prosecutor read the charges.

PhotoBlog: Topless feminist confronts Russian church patriarch

"Look at their faces; they are laughing and joking," the reporter said on the news, adding that a viewer might think they were "continuing the action" they carried out at the cathedral.

Prosecutors asked for the trial, which was streamed live on the Internet, to be closed to the public and the media, saying a "rift in society" and emotions over the case put the defendants and other participants at risk.

Envelope-pushing performances
Pussy Riot, who say they were inspired by bands such as Bikini Kill from the 1990s-era Riot Grrrl U.S. feminist punk movement, burst onto the scene this winter with angry lyrics and envelope-pushing performances, including one on Red Square, that went viral on the Internet.

The collective see themselves as part of a disenchanted generation that is looking for creative ways to show its dissatisfaction with Putin's dominance of the political landscape.

The all-girl group has no lead singer, and, in order that anyone may join, its members don multi-colored balaclavas, which have become its trademark. They numbered five when they formed in November but later expanded to 10 members, though there have been no performances in Russia since their bandmates' arrest.

Among the group's most noted outrageous acts was the drawing of an enormous phallus on a drawbridge in St. Petersburg. Several members participated in an obscene "fertility rite" at Moscow museum, mocking Dmitry Medvedev, who was elected Russian president the next day.

From March 2012: Anti-Putin activists pay high price, but refuse to back down

'Russian superhero' needed?
One member of the group, who spoke to Britain's The Observer newspaper, said members of the band masked their faces to appear anonymous in public to show that "everybody can be Pussy Riot." The 25-year-old, who spoke via video while in hiding for fear of arrest, went by the nickname "Sparrow."

She said a "Russian superhero" was needed at the moment. Wearing masks and costumes during performances, "Sparrow" told The Observer, felt like "having a second life. It's like being Spider-Man or Catwoman. ... When I'm in a mask I feel a little bit like a superhero. I feel more power. I feel really brave. I believe that I can do everything and can change the situation."

Russian Orthodox Church apologizes for Photoshopping patriarch's watch

She also told the newspaper: "It's a bit scary but we're sure what we are doing is right. … When you're doing the right thing you're not scared. Because it's horrible what's happened to the girls."

Anthony Kiedis and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers spoke out in support of the group during the Calif. funk-rock band's July 22 concert in Moscow. Kiedis wore a Pussy Riot t-shirt on stage and both musicians gave letters to Pyotr Verzilov, Tolokonnikova's husband, according to The Guardian newspaper.

Church revival
The unsanctioned performance that prompted the arrest of three Pussy Riot members offended many believers in predominantly Orthodox Christian Russia, where the church has enjoyed a huge revival since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

More Europe coverage from NBCNews.com

But while some two-thirds of the country's 142 million people are considered Russian Orthodox, the number of practicing churchgoers is far smaller in a nation where the legacy of decades of official atheism looms large.

Patriarch Kirill has said the church was "under attack by persecutors" and has encouraged pro-church demonstrations including a procession to Christ the Savior in April.

"This is only the small, visible tip of an iceberg of extremists," Mikhail Kuznetsov, a lawyer representing church security guards, said in an interview with the newspaper Moscow News last week. "They are aiming to destroy the thousand-year-old traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church, to provoke a schism, and to deceivingly bring the flock not towards God, but towards Satan."

'Harmless civil activity'
The defendants' supporters say the charges are politically-motivated.

In a poll by the independent Levada Center and released by the prominent newspaper Kommersant earlier this month, 50 percent of Muscovites said they did not support a criminal trial for the members of Pussy Riot, with 36 percent supporting the trial.

Pussy Riot's cathedral performance was part of a lively protest movement that at its peak saw 100,000 people turn out for rallies in Moscow, some of the largest in Russia since the demise of the USSR.

Reuters, The Associated Press and NBC News staff contributed to this report.

More world stories from NBC News:

• Military drafted in to fill empty seats at London Olympics
• Romney would 'respect' Israel strike on Iran, aide says
• 2 US climbers found dead on Peruvian peak
• Olympic crasher marched at Opening Ceremony
• Elephants slaughtered, orphan found in latest Africa poaching
• Chinese pollution protesters turn violent in clash with police
• Syria regime 'reeling, armed to the teeth' with chemical weapons

News on NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook