The Russian president Vladimir Putin has been confronted by topless women protesting against his human rights record during his visit to Germany.

Three members of international women's rights group Femen, which has staged protests against Russia's detention of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot, targeted his visit to a trade fair in Hanover with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The protesters ran towards the Russian leader shouting "Putin dictator!" before being covered up and bundled away by security guards.

Speaking shortly afterwards at a press conference, a grinning Mr Putin told reporters: "Regarding this performance, I liked it."

But spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the protesters of hooliganism and said they could be punished.

Chancellor Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany where Putin once worked as a young KGB officer, said that people in a free society had a right to protest and repeated her concerns about human rights in Russia after a recent series of raids on German and other non-governmental organisations based in the country.