IOC calls attack by Russian police on Pussy Riot 'unsettling'

February 19, 2014: A Cossack militiaman attacks Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and a photographer as she and fellow members of the punk group Pussy Riot, including Maria Alekhina, right, in the pink balaclava, stage a protest performance in Sochi, Russia. The group had gathered in a downtown Sochi restaurant, about 21miles from where the Winter Olympics are being held. They ran out of the restaurant wearing brightly colored clothes and ski masks and were set upon by about a dozen Cossacks, who are used by police authorities in Russia to patrol the streets. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

SOCHI, Russia – The International Olympic Committee says images of the attack on the Pussy Riot punk group in Sochi are "very unsettling."

IOC spokesman Mark Adams says the governor of the Krasnodar region has apologized for the attack and is investigating.

Adams says it's a matter not directly related to the Sochi Games but he "found the pictures and the video very unsettling."

On Wednesday, Cossack militia attacked the group with horsewhips as they tried to perform under a sign advertising the Sochi Olympics.

Adams says the IOC wants to know more details but called it "largely an issue for" the Russian government.

He added that "it's a shame if the Olympics is used as a political platform" and that "we saw the strong feelings, on both sides, these things can provoke."