Pussy Riot
Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist protest and performance art group based in Moscow that became popular for its provocative punk rock music which later turned into a more accessible style. Founded in the fall of 2011 by 22 year old Nadya Tolokonnikova, it has had a membership of approximately 11 women.[2][3] The group staged unauthorized, provocative guerrilla gigs in public places. These performances were filmed as music videos and posted on the internet.[4] The group's lyrical themes included feminism, LGBT rights, opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his policies,[5] and Putin's links to the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church.[6]
Pussy Riot
- Protest music
- pop
- punk rock (early)
- hardcore punk (early)
- Oi! (early)
2011–present
- Nadya Tolokonnikova
- Yekaterina Samutsevich
- Pyotr Verzilov
- Taisiya Krugovykh
- Vasily Bogatov
- Diana Burkot
- Maria Alyokhina
- Lusine Dzhanyan
- Alexey Knedlyakovsky
- Rita Flores
- Veronika Nikulshina
- Olga Kurachyova
- Olga Pakhtusova
- Olga Borisova
- Alexander Sofeyev
- Lucy Shtein[1]
The group gained global notoriety when five members of the group staged a performance inside Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on February 21, 2012.[7][8] The group's actions were condemned as sacrilegious by the Orthodox clergy and eventually stopped by church security officials. The women said their protest was directed at the Orthodox Church leaders' support for Putin during his election campaign. On March 3, 2012, two of the group's members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, were arrested and charged with hooliganism. A third member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was arrested on March 16. Denied bail, the three were held in custody until their trial began in late July. On August 17, 2012, Alyokhina, Samutsevich and Tolokonnikova were all convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" and each sentenced to two years' imprisonment.[9][10] On October 10, following an appeal, Samutsevich was freed on probation and her sentence suspended. The sentences of the other two women were upheld.[11]
The trial and sentence attracted considerable attention and criticism,[12] particularly in the West. The case was taken up by human rights groups, including Amnesty International, which designated the women as prisoners of conscience,[13] and by a number of prominent entertainers.[14] Public opinion in Russia was generally less sympathetic towards the band members.[15][16] Having served 21 months, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were released on December 23, 2013, after the State Duma approved an amnesty.[17]
In February 2014, a statement was made anonymously on behalf of some Pussy Riot members that Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova were no longer members.[18] However, both were among the group that performed as Pussy Riot during the Winter Olympics in Sochi, where group members were attacked with whips and pepper spray by Cossacks employed as security guards.[19] On March 6, 2014, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were assaulted and sprayed with green dye by local youths in Nizhny Novgorod.[20]
Speaking as much to western European and North American audiences as to Russian ones, Pussy Riot anticipated Donald Trump's victory two weeks before the outcome of the 2016 United States presidential election was declared and released "Make America Great Again", depicting a dystopian world where President Trump enforced his values through beatings, shaming, and branding by stormtroopers. In describing the video, Rolling Stone magazine noted that "jaunty, carefree music contrasts with the brutal events depicted on screen."[21]
Membership
The group was started by 15 women, several of whom were previously involved in Voina.[22] While there is no official line-up and the band says anyone can join, it usually has between 10 and 20 members.[28] The members prefer anonymity and are known for wearing brightly coloured balaclavas when performing and using aliases when giving interviews.[29] At the start, the group was relatively unknown, but this changed following a February 2012 performance in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.[30] Following the performance, three women, Maria Alyokhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, were publicly identified and eventually convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.[31] Two other women involved fled the country and have never been named.[32]
Tolokonnikova is seen as the face of the group. She was born in Norilsk and studied at Moscow State University. Tolokonnikova and then-husband Pyotr Verzilov were members of Voina from 2007.[33] They were involved in provocative art performances that included drawing a 65 m (210 foot) penis on a bridge and having public sex in a Moscow biological museum.[34] Ailyokhina is a single mother, poet[33] and previously did work as an environmental activist.[34] She was a student at the Institute of Journalism and Creative Writing in Moscow.[35]
Samutsevich joined Voina in 2008, at the same time as Ailyokhina.[36] She is a computer programmer and a former member of Moscow's Rodchenko School of Photography and Multimedia.[37] Samutsevich's hooliganism sentence was commuted and following release, she disappeared from the public eye.[36] During the trial, Verzilov lobbied on behalf of all three band members, but was later dismissed after it was reported that he was the band's producer. The prisoners wrote a letter saying “The only person who has the right to represent the group is a woman with a balaclava.”[36]
Following release, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina said they were no longer members of the group, although they appeared at various events around the world using the name Pussy Riot. Other members tried to distance themselves from the two, saying that although they were glad for their release, the members were anti-capitalistic and did not support their use of Pussy Riot to make money from songs and tours. After failing to prevent them from using the Pussy Riot name, they declared the group dead.[36]
In 2015, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina went their own ways and although they still follow similar paths and keep in touch, Pussy Riot is seen by some as more Tolokonnikova's project than the collective it started out as.[36] Ailyokhinasai created her own show, Pussy Riot: Riot Days, which recounts her life as a Russian activist, and tours various fringe festivals.[38]
During the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final, members identifying with the group invaded the pitch wearing police uniforms to protest wrongful arrests. They were Verzilov, economics student Veronika Nikulshina, journalist Olga Kurachyova and Olga Pakhtusova.[33]
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Maria Alyokhina and Lucy Shtein, who are in a relationship, were able to escape house arrest in Russia, and each of them fled the country disguised as delivery drivers, a month apart, to Lithuania.[39] They were proposed for fast-track citizenship in Iceland by parliament decree in May 2023.[40] Shtein was later sentenced in absentia to six years in prison for her online anti-war posts.[41]
Costumes
Costumes usually consisted of brightly colored dresses and tights, even in bitterly cold weather, with faces hidden by balaclavas. During interviews, band members used nicknames such as "Balaclava", "Cat", "Seraph", "Terminator", and "Blondie".[47]
Ideology
Civil society
In an email interview with The St. Petersburg Times, the group explained their political positions further, saying that members' perspectives ranged from anarchist to liberal left, but that all were united by feminism, anti-authoritarianism and opposition to Putin, whom members regard as continuing the "aggressive imperial politics" of the Soviet Union. Group concerns include education, health care, and the centralization of power, and the group supports regional autonomy and grass-roots organizing. Members regard unsanctioned rallies as a core principle, saying that authorities do not see rallies that they have sanctioned as a threat and simply ignore them. For this reason, all of Pussy Riot's performances were illegal and used co-opted public space.[44] Interviewed by the BBC during rehearsals the day before the Cathedral of Christ the Savior performance, band members argued that only vivid, illegal actions brought media attention.[48] In an interview with Slate in the spring of 2018 during the band's first North American tour, Tolokonnikova stated that economic inequality "is a big issue for Pussy Riot", highlighting that such inequality was a notable feature of both Russian and American society, and that discussion of inequality was absent from mainstream political discourse in both the US and Europe.[49]
Feminism
The group was organized in part due to anger over what members saw as government policies that discriminated against women, citing legislation that "placed restrictions on legal abortions".[47] According to Tolokonnikova, Pussy Riot was "part of the global anti-capitalist movement, which consists of anarchists, Trotskyists, feminists and autonomists."[50]
In a February 2012 interview with Vice magazine, Pussy Riot member "Serafima" named her major feminist influences as Simone de Beauvoir, Andrea Dworkin, Emmeline Pankhurst, Shulamith Firestone, Kate Millett, Rosi Braidotti and Judith Butler.[4]
Pussy Riot saw themselves as feminist artists who were influenced by the riot grrrl movement and musical groups such as Bikini Kill, Oi!, Cockney Rejects and by writers, activists and artists like Alexandra Kollontai, Judith Butler, Karen Finley, Simone de Beauvoir and Vladimir Bukovsky.[51][52] The media tended to overlook the meaning behind Pussy Riot's feminism; the cultural context of it was vastly different from that of Western feminism. According to Elianna Kan in the American Reader, Pussy Riot's feminism focused on the repression of authoritarian regimes that created idealised ideas of sexism, sex and family life.[53] Pussy Riot strove to make it clear that feminism in Russia was still an issue and that post-feminism had not been achieved.[54]
The Russian cultural context had to be acknowledged and its feminist notions had to be seen differently from those of Western feminism because in places such as the United States, feminism evolved to general "women's issues", whereas in Russia that was not the case.[53]
In Russia feminism was seen as something "that could destroy Russia", as said by Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.[55]
LGBT issues
Pussy Riot members were outspoken in their support of LGBT rights, and in a 2012 interview confirmed that the group included at least one member of a sexual minority.[56] Both Tolokonnikova and Samutsevich participated in the banned 2011 Moscow Gay Pride rally in Moscow, and were briefly detained after the rally was broken up by police.[57] In a 2018 interview Tolokonnikova spoke about the importance of transgender rights to the band, explaining that she rejected gender essentialism and stating that "we believe you don't actually have to have a vagina or clitoris to be a woman, and having a clitoris doesn't necessarily make you a woman... We are always saying that anybody can be in Pussy Riot, and we really mean it".[49]
Legal problems
Arrest for hooliganism
On February 26, 2012 a criminal case was opened against the band members who had participated in the Moscow cathedral performance on February 21. On March 3, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, two alleged members of Pussy Riot, were arrested by the Russian authorities and accused of hooliganism. Both women at first denied being members of the group and started a hunger strike in protest against being held in jail away from their young children.[104] The defendants were held without bail. On March 16, another woman, Yekaterina Samutsevich, who had earlier been questioned as a witness in the case, was similarly arrested and charged.[105]
Defense attorney Nikolai Polozov said that both Tolokonnikova and Samutsevich were also members of the Voina group, and both had previously staged disruptive protests in the Tagansky Court building, where they would be judged. He argued that their two previous attempts to disrupt proceedings would bias the judge, and preclude a fair outcome at that location. "I believe that the judge will certainly remember my clients, and could easily take offense to it, and therefore could not make an objective decision".[106] The three detained members of Pussy Riot were declared political prisoners by the Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners (SPP).[107] On March 25, Amnesty International named them prisoners of conscience due to "the severity of the response of the Russian authorities".[13]
Speaking at a liturgy in Moscow's Deposition of the Robe Church on March 21, Patriarch Kirill condemned Pussy Riot's actions as blasphemous, saying that the "Devil has laughed at all of us … We have no future if we allow mockery in front of great shrines, and if some see such mockery as a sort of bravery, an expression of political protest, an acceptable action or a harmless joke." The church's membership varied in its opinions on the case; a petition calling for the women to be forgiven was signed by approximately 5,000 lay members.[42] Patriarch Kirill spoke of "his heart breaking with bitterness" when he heard that some Orthodox Christians sought mercy and forgiveness for the women.[108]
Formal charges against the group were presented on June 4, the indictment running to 2,800 pages.[109] By late June 2012, disquiet over the trio's detention without setting a trial date and concern over what was regarded as excessive and arbitrary treatment,[110] led to the writing of an open letter. It was signed by leading opposition figures, as well as by director Fyodor Bondarchuk, a supporter of Putin, and actors Chulpan Khamatova and Yevgeny Mironov, both of whom had appeared in campaign videos supporting Putin's re-election.[111] Singer Alla Pugachyova appealed on the women's behalf, stating that they should be ordered to perform community service rather than imprisoned.[112] Meanwhile, Nikita Mikhalkov, head of the Russian Cinematographers' Union, stated that he would gladly sign an open letter against them.[113]
On July 4, the defendants were informed that they would have to finish preparing their defense by July 9. They announced a hunger strike in response, saying that two working days was inadequate time to finish preparing their trial defense.[114] On July 21, the court extended their pre-trial detention by a further six months.[115]
Trial, conviction, and sentencing
The trial of the three women started in Moscow's Khamovniki District Court on July 30, 2012.[116] Charged with "premeditated hooliganism performed by an organized group of people motivated by religious hatred or hostility,"[117] they faced possible sentences of up to seven years in prison. In early July, a poll conducted in Moscow found that half of the respondents opposed the trial while 36 percent supported it; the rest being undecided.[118] Putin stated that while he saw "nothing good" about the band's protest, "Nonetheless, I don't think that they should be judged so harshly for this."[119]
Trial reactions
In response to questions posed by The Guardian and handed to the band through their lawyer, Pussy Riot accused Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church of orchestrating the case.[148] Samutsevich said in December 2012 that "more than anything, what many people didn't see during the trial were those moments when our 'right to defence' was violated. It's not that we were helpless, it was a situation of despair." In an interview with The Guardian, she continued: "The trial was built in such a way that we couldn't defend ourselves. They didn't listen to us. We could have sat downstairs, where you wait till you're taken to the courtroom, and not go in at all and everything would've gone the same way. The fact that we took part physically [in the trial] didn't actually change anything."[149]
Russian human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva called the judgment politically motivated and "not in line with the law, common sense or mercy".[150] Opposition activist Alexey Navalny described Pussy Riot as "fools who commit petty crimes for the sake of publicity",[151] but opposed the verdict, which he believed had been "written by Vladimir Putin" as "revenge",[150] for a stunt not socially dangerous enough to justify keeping the women behind bars.[152] Russian fiction writer Boris Akunin attended the protests on the day of the conviction and said, "Putin has doomed himself to another year-and-a-half of international shame and humiliation."[131] Irina Yarovaya, a parliamentary deputy of Putin's United Russia party, praised the conviction, stating that "they deserved it".[153] On September 13, 2012, Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev called for the women's early release, saying that the time they had already served awaiting trial was sufficient punishment, and further incarceration would be "counterproductive".[154] On November 2, he said that he would not have sent the three Pussy Riot members to prison, reiterating that their pre-trial detention was enough, but stressed that setting free the two remaining prisoners was a matter for the courts.[155][156][157]
The foreign ministries of the United States and of European Union nations called the sentence "disproportionate".[158] President Barack Obama expressed disappointment, and the White House stated that it had "serious concerns about the way that these young women have been treated by the Russian judicial system."[131]
According to BBC Monitoring, in the European and American press there was "almost universal condemnation" of the two-year sentence imposed on the three members of the group.[159]
Simon Jenkins of The Guardian argued the West was being hypocritical, in that excessively harsh prison terms were by no means unknown in Western countries.[160] Some in the media also raised concerns that a place of worship is not an appropriate venue for any form of protest, and that Pussy Riot's cause did not morally justify their actions.[161][162] The Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI expressed his solidarity with the position of the Russian Orthodox Church on the "acts of vandalism" at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, and expressed surprise at the reaction of some media organizations to those events.[163]
Subsequent court cases and other events
Claims for moral damages
In August 2012 Novosibirsk resident Irina Ruzankina filed a claim for 30,000 rubles (about $1,000) for moral damages, claiming that a Pussy Riot video had caused her headaches and increased blood pressure. The claim was rejected by the Kuntsevo District Court in Moscow on September 7, 2012.[251] Similar claims by Berdsk resident Yuri Zadoy and Novosibirsk resident Ivan Krasnitsky were dismissed by the same court on October 3,[252] as was a subsequent appeal by Ruzankina to the Moscow City Court on February 18, 2013.[253]
Extremist videos decision
In early November 2012 prosecutors applied under anti-extremism legislation to Zamoskvoretsky District Court to ban several Pussy Riot videos, including the video of the group's performance in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Materials found to be extremist by a court are added to the Federal List of Extremist Materials maintained by the Ministry of Justice, potentially making it a criminal offense to disseminate them within Russia.[254][255] After a hearing on November 29, four Pussy Riot videos, including the "punk prayer", were declared extremist. The ruling restricted access to the videos and to Pussy Riot's LiveJournal blog and other websites.
Damir Gainutdinov of the Agora human rights group argued that the anti-extremism laws were being applied inappropriately, saying "Everyone says that the [Cathedral of Christ the Savior] video hurt the feelings of religious people, but it didn't contain any calls for extremist actions, so it cannot be extremist". Yekaterina Samutsevich called the ruling a "direct recognition of artistic censorship" in Russia.[256]
Requests for sentence deferment
In the case of mothers of young children, Russian law allows for deferment of a prison sentence until the child reaches the age of 14. Such a request was controversially granted in 2011 to Anna Shavenkova, who had been sentenced to two years and six months prison for vehicular manslaughter. It was alleged that her request was granted because of her family connections.[257]
On October 19, 2012, the Khamovniki District Court in Moscow rejected an appeal for deferment of sentence filed by Violetta Volkova on behalf of Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina, on the grounds that the case did not fall within its jurisdiction.[258] Tolokonnikova subsequently filed an appeal with the Zubovo-Polyansky District Court in Mordovia, where she was imprisoned, and Alyokhina with the Berezniki District Court in Perm. Alyokhina's appeal was rejected on January 16, 2013, the judge stating that the presence of her child was already taken into account during her original sentence.
On July 24, 2013, a Russian court turned down an appeal by Maria Alyokhina against a previous court ruling that denied her an early release on parole.[259]
Release from prison
On December 19, 2013, the state Duma approved a general amnesty for various prisoners; among those who qualified for amnesty were those in prison for non-violent offences and mothers of young children. It was expected that Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina would be among those who were released.[260] Their release was confirmed on December 23, 2013.[261][262]
Following her release, Alyokhina went to meet with human rights activists.
"We didn't ask for any pardon. I would have sat here until the end of my sentence because I don't need mercy from Putin," Maria Alyokhina told The New York Times after her release.[263] "I think this is an attempt to improve the image of the current government, a little, before the Sochi Olympics — particularly for the Western Europeans. But I don't consider this humane or merciful. This is a lie." Tolokonnikova also said, "Whether one likes it or not, going to the Olympics in Russia is an acceptance of the internal political situation in Russia, an acceptance of the course taken by a person who is interested in the Olympics above all else — Vladimir Putin."[264]
The two said that they would not be performing in shows but were starting an organization to work for better conditions for prison inmates and that they still wanted Putin removed from government. Both said that Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky is their role model, a man whom Tolokonnikova said is a "human rights champion undeterred by fear."[264]
Amnesty International concert and membership controversy
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (Nadia) and Maria Alyokhina (Masha) participated in the February 6, 2014 Amnesty International concert in Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York City. They were invited to the stage by Madonna. The same day a group of anonymous participants of the Pussy Riot group who avoided prosecution for their performance published an open letter protesting Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina calling themselves members of Pussy Riot.[265][266][267] The letter claimed that:[265]
Studio albums
Mixtapes