Jailed Pussy Riot punk ends hunger strike

A jailed member of Russian punk band Pussy Riot has ended an eight-day hunger strike she staged to draw attention to what she called "slave labour conditions" in prison.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova was jailed for two years in August 2012, alongside fellow band member Maria Alyokhina, on "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" charges stemming from a protest they held against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral.

Their punishment drew international condemnation and turned the pair into a symbol of political repression under Putin - a former KGB spy who has tolerated little dissent during his 13 years in power.

The regional prison authority in the republic of Mordovia where Tolokonnikova is serving time said the 23-year-old "ended the hunger strike and started consuming food" on Tuesday morning.

Tolokonnikova was moved to a local hospital on Sunday and put on a drip the following day due to general weakness associated with her strike.

Russian human rights activist and leftist parliament member Ilya Ponomaryov confirmed the information after paying a brief visit to her in hospital.

She "stopped her hunger strike for medical reasons", Ponomaryov tweeted.

Tolokonnikova announced her hunger strike after releasing an open letter in which she described harrowing conditions at her prison and claimed that she had received death threats for complaining.

Russian human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin said Tolokonnikova had agreed to end her action after being assured by the prison warden that she would soon be transferred to a different jail.

"We agreed that she would end her strike, and that the (prison service) would treat with understanding her request to be moved to a different correctional facility," the Interfax news agency quoted Lukin as saying.

Tolokonnikova's open letter ignited a fresh debate on Russian state television about filthy jail conditions and prisoner abuse.