MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian artist known for his radical performances has been detained after setting fire to the door of the headquarters of Russia's chief security agency.

Russian news agencies quoted Pyotr Pavlensky's lawyer Olga Chavdar as saying his client was detained early Monday.

Pavlensky's associates released a video on his social media account that showed him standing next to the burning door of Russia's main security agency FSB, holding a petrol canister. The building on Lubyanka square previously housed the KGB.

Pavlensky said in the script accompanying the video that his performance was meant as a protest against FSB's heavy-handed tactics.

In his arguably most shocking performance, Pavlensky in 2013 nailed his scrotum onto the cobbles of the Red Square.