MOSCOW, April 9 (RIA Novosti) - A criminal case has been launched into a topless protest by the Femen group in the German city of Hanover that targeted Russian President Vladimir Putin, the local HAZ newspaper said on Monday.

Four women, with obscenities in English and Russian daubed on their torsos, broke through security as Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were examining a stand at an industrial fair in the city.

According to local police spokesmen, five female activists - two Germans, two Ukrainians and one Russian - aged from 18 to 33, have been detained and questioned. A criminal case has been opened into suspected defamation of foreign state bodies or representatives, which entails a maximum punishment of five years in prison, according to the German Criminal Code.

However, according to German laws, the case can be continued only at the request of the affected side. So far, Putin has not requested German law-enforcers to go ahead with the case.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the protest as “hooliganism,” but added that “It doesn’t mean that I am calling for them to be punished.”

The Russian president commented later, when asked about the protest, that he had "liked it," adding that it would help to promote the fair. But he also noted that it was better to discuss politics "when clothed."