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Pussy Riot
Seven members of the band Pussy Riot
Background information
Origin	Moscow, Russia
Genres	Punk rock, protest art
Years active	2011 (2011)–present
Labels	None
Members	Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich, several anonymous members
Website	pussy-riot.livejournal.com

Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist punk-rock collective based in Moscow. Founded in August 2011, it consists of approximately 12 members, who wear brightly colored balaclavas and use only nicknames during interviews. They stage unannounced provocative performances about Russian political life in unusual and unauthorized locations, such as the Yelokhovo Cathedral, Lobnoye Mesto in Red Square, on top of a trolleybus, or on a scaffold in the Moscow Metro. These performances are edited into videos and posted on the Internet.

On February 21, 2012, five members of the group staged a performance on the soleas of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Their actions were stopped by church security officials. By evening, they had turned it into a music video which they entitled "Punk Prayer - Mother of God, Chase Putin Away!". The women said their protest was directed at the Orthodox Church leader's support for Mr Putin, who two weeks later was elected for a third term as Russia's president.

On March 3, two of the group members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, were arrested and charged with hooliganism. A third member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was arrested on March 16. Denied bail, they were held in custody until their trial began in late July. On August 17, 2012, the three members were convicted of hooliganism, and each was sentenced to two years imprisonment. Two other members of the group, who escaped arrest after February's protest, reportedly left Russia fearing prosecution. On October 10, following an appeal, Samutsevich was freed on probabation, her sentence suspended. The convictions and sentences of the other two women were upheld. In late October 2012, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova were separated and sent to forced labor camps. The camps, in Perm and Mordovia, east of Moscow were areas used for mass prison colonies in the Soviet era.

The trial and conviction attracted considerable criticism, particularly in the West. Public opinion in Russia was generally less sympathetic towards the women.

Origins, musical style, and ideology

Pussy Riot is a collective formed in August 2011. They write their name as "Pussy Riot" with Latin (rather than Cyrillic) lettering. The Russian press usually follows suit, but sometimes the name is transliterated as "Пусси Райот". It comprises around 12 performers and about 15 people who handle the technical work of shooting and editing their videos, which are posted on the Internet. Their costumes are usually brightly colored dresses and tights, even in bitterly cold weather, with their faces masked by balaclavas, both while performing and during interviews. During interviews they use nicknames such as "Balaclava", "Cat", "Seraph", "Terminator", and "Blondie". In an interview with Gazeta.ru, a band member described their two-minute concerts as performance art, creating images of "pure protest, saying: super heroes in balaclavas and acid bright tights seize public space in Moscow." Another band member, who goes by the pseudonym Garadzha, told the Moskovskiye Novosti newspaper that the group is open to women recruits with limited musical talents. She said: "You don't have to sing very well. It's punk. You just scream a lot."

The group cites punk rock and Oi! bands Angelic Upstarts, Cockney Rejects, Sham 69 and The 4-Skins as their main musical influences. The band also cite American punk rock band Bikini Kill, Karen Finley and the Riot grrrl movement of the 1990s as inspirations. They stated,

"What we have in common is impudence, politically loaded lyrics, the importance of feminist discourse and a non-standard female image. The difference is that Bikini Kill performed at specific music venues, while we hold unsanctioned concerts. On the whole, Riot Grrrl was closely linked to Western cultural institutions, whose equivalents don't exist in Russia."

Tolokonnikova, her husband Pyotr Verzilov, and Samutsevich were all members of the anarchist art collective "Voina" from the group's early days in 2007, until an acrimonious split in 2009. Following the split, they formed a separate Moscow-based group, also named "Voina", saying that they had as much right to use this name as Voina founder Oleg Vorotnikov. Pussy Riot is usually considered to be an offshoot of the "Moscow faction" of Voina.

The musical performance group was organized, in part, due to anger over what they perceived as government policies that discriminate against women, citing legislation that "placed restrictions on legal abortions". According to their co-founder, Pussy Riot is "part of the global anti-capitalist movement, which consists of anarchists, Trotskyists, feminists and autonomists." They use Situationist-style guerrilla performances. According to Tolokonnikova,

"Pussy Riot's performances can either be called dissident art or political action that engages art forms. Either way, our performances are a kind of civic activity amidst the repressions of a corporate political system that directs its power against basic human rights and civil and political liberties."

Songs and videos

Pussy Riot has released seven songs and five videos. An Associated Press reporter described them as "badly recorded, based on simple riffs and scream-like singing", and stated that critics had dismissed them as "amateur, provocative and obscene". The A.V. Club described them as an "excellent band" with "fuzzed-out guitars and classic Riot Grrrl chants". In an opinion piece for The New York Times, Pitchfork Media reviewer Michael Idov wrote, "judging on artistic merit would be like chiding the Yippies because Pigasus the Immortal, the pig they ran for president in 1968, was not a viable candidate."

Pussy Riot have not released any conventional albums. However, their songs are freely available for download on a number of internet sites, collected together under the title Ubey seksista (ru:Убей сексиста; Kill the sexist).

Kill the Sexist

On October 1, 2011, Tolokonnikova and Samutsevich gave a lecture on "punk feminism" as members of Voina. They played a recording of the song Ubey seksista ("Kill the Sexist"), billing the performers as "a new Russian punk band called Pussy Riot". This track featured extensive sampling of the Cockney Rejects' 1979 recording "I'm Not a Fool".

Release the Cobblestones

Their first public performance as members of Pussy Riot was in November 2011. Several masked women performed Osvobodi Bruschatku ("Release the Cobblestones") atop a scaffold in a Moscow subway and from the top of trolley cars, while tearing apart down feather pillows, showering feathers onto the train platform below. The song recommends that Russians protest upcoming parliamentary elections, by throwing cobblestones during street clashes. "Your ballots will be used as toilet paper by the Presidential Administration", the group said on its blog. The musical track once again used extensive sampling, this time from the Angelic Upstarts' 1978 recording "Police Oppression".

Kropotkin Vodka

Later that month, they re-emerged, with several members playing Kropotkin Vodka on the roof of an automobile display unit in a luxury-store district and in the windows of fashion boutiques, while another member discharged a fire extinguisher into the air. The song takes its title from Russian anarcho-communist Peter Kropotkin, and metaphorically concerns the assassination of "Kremlin bastards" by fatal poisoning.

Death to Prison, Freedom to Protests

On December 14, 2011, the group performed atop a garage beside the Moscow Detention Center No. 1 prison, where opposition activists were being held among the prisoners. Politicians Alexey Navalny and Ilya Yashin had been arrested one week earlier at a mass protest of the results of the State Duma elections. Pussy Riot played their song Smert' tyur'me, svobodu protestu ("Death To Prison, Freedom To Protests"), and were applauded by the prisoners watching from inside the bars of the jail cell windows.

Putin Chickened Out

On January 20, 2012, in what the Associated Press described it as their "breakthrough performance", they played a song on the Lobnoye Mesto in Red Square, entitled Putin Zassal ("Putin Chickened Out"), while igniting a smoke bomb. This led to eight members being arrested and briefly detained on administrative charges, a Russian legal term similar to a summary offence or misdemeanor.

Mother of God, Drive Putin Away

On February 21, 2012, as part of a protest movement against the re-election of Vladimir Putin, five women from the group entered the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. This was at a time when church services were not in session and only a few parishioners were in the cathedral. They shed their winter clothing and pulled colorful balaclavas down over their faces. They then walked up the steps leading to the altar, crossed themselves, bowed to the altar and began a performance, later described by the group as a "Punk Prayer". After less than a minute, they were escorted outside the building by guards. Film of the performance was later used to create a video clip for the song, entitled "Punk Prayer: Mother of God Drive Putin Away". In the song, they invoked the name of the Virgin Mary, and urged her to get rid of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and to "become a feminist." They used crude language to attack Putin and Kirill I, the Moscow Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Growing ties between church and state in Russia have been a target of criticism and protest. The Russian Patriarch, Kirill, had openly supported Putin's 2012 re-election, calling Putin a "miracle from God", who had "rectified the crooked path of history." After the cathedral performance, members of Pussy Riot said the church is a "weapon in a dirty election campaign" and called Putin "a man who is as far as can be from God's truth."

This performance led to the arrest and prosecution of three of their members.

Putin Lights Up the Fires

Pussy Riot released a single in August 2012 as the court case against three of their members drew to a close. It was called Putin zazhigaet kostry ("Putin Lights Up The Fires"), and had lyrics referring to issues around the case. Among other demands, the lyrics request that "Seven years is not enough, give us eighteen!"

Arrest and prosecution

Following the February 21 "Punk Prayer" incident, the Orthodox Church called on the government to criminalize blasphemy. On February 26, a criminal case was opened against the band members who had participated.

On March 3, 2012, 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 until their case came to trial in April. 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. She initially hid her real name and called herself Irina Lokteva.

Defense attorney Nikolai Polozov noted that both Tolokonnikova and Samutsevich are 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".

The three detained members of Pussy Riot were recognized as political prisoners by the Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners (SPP). Amnesty International named them prisoners of conscience due to "the severity of the response of the Russian authorities".

Speaking at a liturgy in Moscow's Deposition of the Robe Church on March 21, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill I, 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.

On June 4, formal charges against the group were presented, the indictment running to 2,800 pages. By late June 2012, growing disquiet over the trio's detention without setting a trial date and concern over what was regarded as excessive and arbitrary treatment, led to the drawing-up 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. Singer Alla Pugachyova appealed on the women's behalf, stating that they should be ordered to perform community service rather than imprisoned. Meanwhile, Nikita Mikhalkov, head of the Russian Cinematographers' Union, stated that he would gladly sign an open letter against them.

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 prepare a trial defense. On July 21, the court extended their pre-trial detention by a further six months.

Trial, conviction and sentencing

The trial of the three women started in Moscow's Khamovniki District Court on July 30. Charged with "premeditated hooliganism performed by an organized group of people motivated by religious hatred or hostility", they faced possible sentences of up to seven years imprisonment. 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. 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."

The defendants pleaded not guilty, saying that they had not meant their protest to be offensive. "We sang part of the refrain 'Holy shit'," Tolokonnikova said in court. "I am sorry if I offended anyone with this. It is an idiomatic expression, related to the previous verse — about the fusion of Moscow patriarchy and the government. 'Holy shit' is our evaluation of the situation in the country. This opinion is not blasphemy." Their lawyers stated that the circumstances of the case had revived the Soviet-era tradition of the show trial. On August 15, 20 protesters wearing balaclavas gathered in support of Pussy Riot at Christ the Saviour Cathedral, and held up placards reading Blessed are the merciful. Cathedral guards quickly moved against the protesters, trying to detain them and taking off their balaclavas.

Pussy Riot said their protest was a political statement, but prosecutors said the band was trying to "incite religious hatred" against the Orthodox Church. In Putin Zassal, Pussy Riot had stated "The Orthodox Religion is a hardened penis / Coercing its subjects to accept conformity", among other examples of the group's antagonism to the Church as an organization, which it views as corrupt. Thus central issues of the case were the definition of "hatred" against a religion, and whether blasphemy can exist in a secular state.

All three were convicted and sentenced to two years in a penal colony on August 17, 2012. The judge stated that they had "crudely undermined the social order" with their protest, showing a "complete lack of respect" for believers. Mark Feygin, a lawyer for the trio, stated that they would appeal the verdict, but that "Under no circumstances will the girls ask for a pardon ... They will not beg and humiliate themselves before such a bastard". Tolokonnikova stated that "Our imprisonment serves as a clear and unambiguous sign that freedom is being taken away from the entire country."

Both supporters and critics of the band demonstrated at their sentencing hearing. Opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov, who was protesting in support of the band, was detained by police, while former world chess champion and a long standing opposition member Garry Kasparov, trying to attend the reading of the verdict, was arrested and beaten.

Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin described the verdict as "yet another blow to the court system and citizens' trust in it", harming the country's international image. Putin responded that religious organizations should be protected, because "the country has very grave memories of the initial period of Soviet rule, when a huge number of priests suffered. Many churches were destroyed and all our traditional faiths suffered huge damage."

On October 1, 2012, an appellate hearing was postponed in the Moscow City Court after Samutsevich informed a panel of three judges that she wished to terminate the representation of her defense attorneys as "My position in the criminal case does not coincide with their position." On October 10, Samutsevich's new lawyer Irina Khrunova argued that her client had not in fact committed the acts of hooliganism in the church as she was prevented from accessing the soleas by church security. The court appeared to accept this argument, and released Samutsevich on two years probation. However, the judges rejected the appeals of Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina, upholding their convictions.

Initial reports had suggested that the women would serve their sentence in one of three provinces. The decision upon a general-security women's penal colony in the Republic of Mordovia, approximately 400 kilometers from Moscow, was later confirmed by Tolokonnikova's husband. The women asked authorities to let them serve their sentence at the pre-trial detention facility in Moscow. Their request was denied, and Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were then dispatched to penal colonies in Mordovia and Perm Oblast, respectively.

The IK-2 and IK-14 penal colonies in Yavas, Zubovo-Polyansky District, Mordovia, are the most common destinations for women prisoners sentenced in Moscow. It is the former location of the DUBRAVLAG prison complex of the Gulag system. Tolokonnikova is incarcerated in IK-14, whereas Alyokhina was sent to IK-32 in Perm. The latter is a colony for first-time offenders, which houses a sewing factory, and an experimental vocational program to re-train women prisoners to become digital cartoon animators. Circumstances in IK-32 are relatively favorable, and neither prisoners nor human rights monitors have filed complaints about its conditions. Meanwhile, IK-14 has a harder reputation.

Reactions and aftermath

In response to questions posed by The Guardian and handed to the band via their lawyer, Pussy Riot accused Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church of orchestrating the case.

The foreign ministries of the United States and of European Union nations called the sentence "disproportionate".

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. While many newspaper editorials and opinion columns were critical of the performance in the Cathedral, very few thought a two-year prison sentence was an appropriate punishment, arguing that the action should have been treated as a public order crime and punished by a fine or community service. Simon Jenkins of The Guardian argued that excessively harsh prison terms are by no means unknown in Western countries, opening Western critics of the sentence to charges of hypocrisy. Some press raised concerns that a place of worship is not an appropriate venue for any form of protest, and that their cause could not morally justify such an action.

The press secretary to Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said "the promotion of Canadian values, including freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, features prominently in our ongoing dialogue with the Russian authorities." The United States embassy in Moscow tweeted that the sentence "looks disproportionate to the actions," and the United States State Department asked Russia to "review this case and to ensure that the right to freedom of expression is upheld." President Barack Obama expressed disappointment, and the White House stated "we have serious concerns about the way that these young women have been treated by the Russian judicial system."

Russian human right activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva called the judgment politically motivated and "not in line with the law, common sense or mercy". Opposition activist Alexei Navalny, who characterized Pussy Riot act as "idiotic, and there is nothing to argue about", described the verdict as being "written by Vladimir Putin", and called it Putin's "revenge". 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." Irina Yarovaya, a member of the General Council of Putin's United Russia party, praised the conviction, stating "they deserved it".

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".

In a letter from prison after her sentence was upheld, Tolokonnikova icily disowned the actions of her own husband, Verzilov, accusing him of having co-opted Pussy Riot by acting as its frontman without their consent. "His statements are lies, in the name of giving himself the status of the founder and legal representative of Pussy Riot, when in fact, he is not. Actually, Pyotr Verzilov has occupied Pussy Riot through this strange, quasi-fraudulent activity. As a representative of the group, I am outraged." Verzilov, who had previously stated himself that he was not an official representative of Pussy Riot, declined to comment, saying he wanted to find out what happened first. Samutsevich also expressed surprise at the letter, which was also signed, in prison, by Alyokhina.

Public opinion in Russia

The court's decision aroused "little sensation" domestically. A series of Levada Center polls showed that, of 1600 Russians surveyed in 45 cities nationwide, 42% also believed Pussy Riot had been arrested for insulting the shrines and beliefs of the Orthodox Church. Meanwhile, 29% saw it as a case of general hooliganism, while only 19% saw it as a political protest against Putin. Overall opinion was for the most part negative or indifferent. Only 6% sympathised with Pussy Riot, while 41% felt antipathy towards them. 44% believed the trial was "fair and impartial", while 17% believed it was not. Of those following the case, 86% favored some form of punishment, ranging from prison to forced labor or fines, while 5% said they should not have been punished at all. A prison sentence of 2 to 7 years was seen as appropriate by 33%, whereas 43% saw two or more years as excessive, and a further 15% said the defendants should not have been prosecuted in court.

The conservatism of the public has been criticized by many Russian commentators. Levada Center director Lev Gudkov commented on the results, stating that most Russians get their information from television, and therefore perceive events in accordance with the state's "official version". Monitoring of Russian media, by Exovera Media Analysis company, showed that some readers were clearly outraged by the "prayer", and concerned for the right of the majority to worship in peace. Researchers noted that symbolic value of the cathedral, which had been torn down in the 1930s by Stalinists, may have played a role. In monitored outlets and forums, there was awareness of being judged by the global community, whose response, in some cases, was referred to as "hysterical" and unfair.

In the statement published after the sentence had been announced, The Russian Orthodox Church stated that while the actions of Pussy Riot were offensive to "millions of people," the Church called "on the state authorities to show mercy to the people convicted within the framework of the law, in the hope that they will refrain from repeating blasphemous actions."

International support

During the trial, the three women became an international cause célèbre due to their treatment. Many international artists, politicians, and musicians voiced support for the release of Pussy Riot, or expressed concern about the fairness of their trial, including (alphabetical by name):

• Anti-Flag
• Die Antwoord
• Julian Assange
• Austra
• Bryan Adams
• Justin Vivian Bond
• The Beastie Boys
• Björk
• Vratislav Brabenec
• Carrie Brownstein
• John Cale
• Jarvis Cocker
• Corinne Bailey Rae
• Cornershop
• Faith No More
• Johanna Fateman
• Franz Ferdinand
• Karen Finley
• Stephen Fry
• Peter Gabriel
• Genesis
• Jón Gnarr
• Green Day
• Nina Hagen
• Kathleen Hanna
• Peter Hammill
• The Joy Formidable
• Alex Kapranos
• Warren Kinsella
• Mark Knopfler
• Geddy Lee
• Courtney Love
• Madonna
• Johnny Marr
• Ana Matronic
• Paul McCartney
• Moby
• Eileen Myles
• Kate Nash
• Martina Navratilova
• Yoko Ono
• Peaches
• Iiro Rantala
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Refused
• Rise Against
• JD Samson
• Alicia Silverstone
• Patti Smith
• Sting
• Aung San Suu Kyi
• Serj Tankian
• Neil Tennant
• Pete Townshend
• Elijah Wood
• Zola Jesus

While acknowledging the outpouring of support, members of Pussy Riot distanced themselves from Western artists, and reiterated their opposition to the capitalist model of art as commodity:

"We're flattered, of course, that Madonna and Björk have offered to perform with us. But the only performances we'll participate in are illegal ones. We refuse to perform as part of the capitalist system, at concerts where they sell tickets."

A letter of support from 120 members of the German parliament, the Bundestag, was sent to the Russian Ambassador to Germany, Vladimir Grinin. It described proceedings against the women as disproportionate and draconian. On August 9, 2012, 400 Pussy Riot supporters in Berlin marched, wearing colored balaclavas, in a show of support for the group. Attending the trial, British MP and Shadow Foreign Office Minister for Human Rights, Kerry McCarthy, also backed the group, describing proceedings as "surreal". Lech Wałęsa criticised the church performance as "tasteless", but nevertheless wrote to Putin urging him to pardon the women.

Amnesty International called the conviction "a bitter blow for freedom of expression". Hugh Williamson, of Human Rights Watch, stated that the "charges and verdict... distort both the facts and the law... These women should never have been charged with a hate crime and should be released immediately." In October 2012, Pussy Riot was announced as a finalist for the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, named for Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov. The prize ultimately went to Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and filmmaker Jafar Panahi.

On September 21, 2012, the Feminist Press published an e-book entitled Pussy Riot! A Punk Prayer for Freedom to raise funds for the legal defense team.

Protests

Protests were held around the world after the sentence was announced. Amnesty International declared August 17 "Pussy Riot Global Day" for activists. People gathered in New York City, where Chloë Sevigny, Karen Finley and others read statements by the convicted members of the band. In Bulgaria, people put masks, similar to those worn by Pussy Riot, on a Soviet sculpture. About 100 people protested outside the Russian consulate in Toronto. In Edinburgh, Scotland, Fringe performers read trial testimony. In Serbia, the far-right activist group Nasi released a video game in which members of Pussy Riot were targets, and supported the women's imprisonment. Meanwhile, Estonian programmers launched an imitation of the Internet game "Angry Birds", poking fun at Russian authorities.

In Kiev, Inna Shevchenko, a topless feminist activist from the group FEMEN, used a chainsaw to destroy a four-meter wooden sculpture of Christ on the cross, on a hill overlooking the city center. The cross had been erected during the Orange Revolution of 2004–2005, to commemorate Ukrainian victims of Stalinist genocide and the Holodomor famine of the 1930s. The desecration of the cross was repudiated by Maria Alyokhina of Pussy Riot, who said "Their surprise displays and protests against authoritarianism are similar to us, but we look at feminism differently, especially the form of speech. We wouldn't take our clothes off, and will not. Their latest action, the sawing of the cross, does not create a feeling of solidarity, unfortunately."

On August 19, two men and a woman dressed as Pussy Riot staged a protest during a service in Germany's Cologne Cathedral. The trio yelled slogans and held up a banner reading "Free Pussy Riot and all prisoners" in English. They were arrested by cathedral officials and charged with disturbing a religious service and breaching the peace. Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, a local newspaper, reports that "disturbing a religious establishment" could result in a fine or up to three years imprisonment.

Orthodox Crosses were also cut down in at least four locations in Russia. A United Russia MP stated that the incidents were inspired by Pussy Riot, calling the actions "true Satanism". Conservative Orthodox activists staged small counter-demonstrations, bursting into a pro-Pussy riot event at a theatre, and shouting slogans such as "Repent", and "Why do you hate the Russian people?" An art museum curated by gallerists who had supported Pussy Riot was also invaded.

Supporters of the Pussy Riot vandalized Qvashveti Church in the center of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. They depicted a feminist caricature of Saint Nino, who has preached Christianity in Georgia, with an English-language motto: "Free Pussy Riot!". According to some witnesses, the same caricature was depicted on the wall near the Georgian Patriarchate on Erekle Street.

On September 16, 2012, an elderly man poured ink over an icon in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. He called his action "a protest against the Russian Orthodox Church and its position in the case of the Pussy Riot punk band." According to a police source, the 62-year-old Yuri Pyotrovsky, a St. Petersburg native, currently lives in Germany. The criminal case was opened against him under an article of the Criminal Code for hooliganism. Maria Alyokhina explicitly condemned cutting down crosses and splashing ink on icons and other acts of vandalism against objects of religious or cultural significance during her unsuccessful appeal against her sentence on October 10, 2012.

Homicides

On August 30, 2012 the bodies of two murdered women, mother and daughter, were found in Kazan, Tartarstan. A message, "Free! Pussy Riot" was written in capital letters in English on the wall of the apartment, using the victims' blood. Initially there was some speculation that either Pussy Riot supporters or the Russian secret service were somehow involved in the murders; however, the next day Igor Danilevsky, a 38-year-old professor at a Kazan university, confessed to the killings, saying he wrote the message to distract the police.

Criticism

Offense to religious believers

Vsevolod Chaplin, chairman of the Synodal Department for the Cooperation of Church and Society of the Moscow Patriarchate, accused Pussy Riot of blasphemy, insulting believers and kindling hatred between believers and atheists.

On August 18, 2012 Janice Shaw Crouse of Concerned Women for America, a conservative Christian advocacy group, published an opinion piece in American Thinker in which she related the Pussy Riot affair in terms of wider attacks on Christianity in both Russia and the U.S. She said that "It is apparent from the closing statements of the three Russian feminists on trial that they are not sorry for their actions and, in fact, view themselves as the victims, not the Christians whom they denigrated".

American theologian Abbot Tryphon, of All Merciful Savior Orthodox Monastery in Vashon Island, Washington, stated that Pussy Riot is simply a publicity-seeking group of "performance artists" who make their living by creating scandals. He argues that it was not an attack on Putin, but an attack on the Patriarch and the Church. He also argued that nobody has a right to "trample on the sacred".

However, according to Archpriest Mikhail Ryazantsev, sacristan of the church, the group did not defile the altar, and re-consecration of the church is not necessary.

LGBT advocacy

Pussy Riot have been outspoken in their support of LGBT rights, and in an early interview they confirmed that the group includes at least one member of a sexual minority. Both Tolokonnikova and Samutsevich participated in the banned 2011 Gay Pride rally in Moscow, and were briefly detained after the rally was broken up by police. Pussy Riot's LGBT advocacy is seen in a negative light by conservative Russians; according to a Levada poll published in 2010, 74% of Russians view homosexuality as a moral perversion or mental illness.

Performance art group Voina

The connection between Pussy Riot and the political performance art group Voina has been highlighted by some of the group's critics, and has been called an "aggravating moral circumstance" in the eyes of the conservative public (which constitutes about 60 per cent of Russians). Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich have been members of the Voina collective since 2007.

Tolokonnikova was part of a performance in which couples were filmed having sex in the Timiriazev State Biology Museum in Moscow in February 2008. This exhibitionist act was intended as a satire of Dmitry Medvedev's call to increase the birth rate in Russia, but was typically described as an "orgy" by the media. President Putin, in an interview about whether the prison sentence was at all justifiable, also invoked the defendants' prior actions in Voina stunts: "They had a group sex session in a public place. They then uploaded it onto the Internet. The authorities should have looked into this, too."

Some critics have made little or no distinction between Pussy Riot and Voina, incorrectly attributing past actions of Voina to Pussy Riot. In particular, a notorious performance by Voina in St. Petersburg, in which a woman stole a chicken from a supermarket by stuffing it in her vagina, is sometimes cited by detractors of Pussy Riot. However, there is no evidence that members of Moscow-based Pussy Riot participated in this action.

References

1. ^ Pussy Riot gig at Christ the Savior Cathedral (original video). July 2, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2012.
2. "Панк-молебен "Богородица, Путина прогони" Pussy Riot в Храме ("Punk Prayer 'Mother of God, Chase Putin Away', Pussy Riot in the Cathedral")" (in Russian). YouTube. February 21, 2012. Archived from the original on October 27, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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7. Wilson, Bo (October 23, 2012). "Pussy Riot Pair Separated and Sent to Gulags". The London Evening Standard. Retrieved October 27, 2012.
8. BBC News October 22, 2012
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41. "Police Open Criminal Probe into 'Punk Prayer' at Christ the Savior Cathedral". RIA Novosti. February 26, 2012. Archived from the original on October 27, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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148. Pussy Riot copycats sing in Cologne Cathedral, The Local Germany's News in English
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150. Protestler stürmen den Dom, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger ("Protesters storm Cologne Cathedral")
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153. "Pro-Church activists attack erotic art museum". The Moscow Times. August 30, 2012.(subscription required)
154. Protest Rally Initiators to Read Special Address to Public Defender and Justice Minister, GHN News Agency
155. Georgian pro-Pussy Riot vandals spark public outcry, Russia Today
156. Pussy Riot Supporter Pours Ink over Icon in Moscow Cathedral, PIK TV
157. Criminal case opened vs man pouring ink on icon at Saviour Cathedral, Itar-Tass
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159. "Pussy Riot Murder: Bodies Of 2 Women Found With Message Demanding Group's Freedom". Huffington Post. August 30, 2012.
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164. American Thinker
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166. Pussy Riot Revisited, Ancient Faith Radio
167. Храм Христа Спасителя не будут освящать после «концерта» панков ("Cathedral of Christ the Saviour remains sanctified after 'concert' by punks") // «Интерфакс-религия», 27 февраля 2012
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169. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (May 30,2011). "«Когнитивный терроризм» на московском гей-прайде". kontury.info (in Russian). Moscow: Kontury. Retrieved October 31, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
170. "Гомосексуальность в российском общественном мнении" (in Russian). the Levada Centre: The Yuriy Levada Analytical Centre. August 6, 2010. Retrieved October 31, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
171. "В Москве судят шалав из Pussy Riot ("Moscow trial of Pussy Riot") (". azbukywedy.livejournal.com. July 20, 2012. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
172. "Russia's Art Revolution -Voina Challenges Putin with Imagination". Der Spiegel. December 21, 2011. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
173. "Организация "Народный собор" снова подогревает интерес прокуратуры к предвыборной оргии в поддержку "наследника Медвежонка" ("Re-organization of People's Council again stirs interest in favor of prosecution of 'Bear Heir' election orgy")". Newsru.com. October 24, 2008. Retrieved August 17, 2012.

External links

• Official blog
• Pussy Riot on YouTube

• All-female bands
• Feminism in Russia
• Musical groups established in 2011
• Musical groups from Moscow
• Musical collectives
• Political controversies in Russia
• Politics of Russia
• Protests in Russia
• Riots and civil disorder in Russia
• Russian opposition groups
• Russian punk rock groups
• 2011 establishments in Russia
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