The feminist punk group Pussy Riot, famous for its activism against Vladimir Putin’s government, has been classified by Russian justice as an extremist organization. As a result, all of its activities are banned in Russia.
Not that there are any, given that almost all of its members are in exile: two of them were sentenced last year to 13 years in prison in absentia, accused of defamation of the actions of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine.
According to the sentence, pronounced behind closed doors this Monday (15), the past activities of Pussy Riot constitute “a threat to the State”. The group’s lawyer, Leonid Soloviev, said last month that the process was absurd and that the group was only mocking the authorities.
The extremist classification was requested by the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office. This is the most serious level, after terrorism, in the Putin government’s system of policing dissent – a slow process that began when the president faced street protests after his re-election in 2012.
The invasion of the neighboring country ten years later led to the introduction of stricter laws to suppress criticism of the war, which is not even officially called that: the term used by the Kremlin is “special military operation”. The climate of political repression was thus consolidated.
Opponent Alexeï Navalni, who died in prison in early 2024, and the religious group Jehovah’s Witnesses have already been classified as extremists.
Pussy Riot, which has added nearly 20 members over the years, has a long history of clashes with the Kremlin. Its best-known founders, Nadia Tolokonnikova, her husband Piotr Verzilov and Ekaterina Samutsevitch, created an anarchist art collective called Guerra in 2007.
In 2011, Pussy Riot emerged, whose members performed in colorful hoods, keeping their identities secret. The following year, they became known around the world when they invaded the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow and staged a demonstration singing a song against Putin.
The church is an iconic landmark of Russia under Putin, having been inaugurated in 2000 on the site of a cathedral demolished by the Soviets in 1931, on the banks of the Moscow River.
The depiction on the temple altar particularly angered the powerful Orthodox Church, which has close ties to the Kremlin. Of the five participants, three were identified and arrested for vandalism, including Tolokonnikova and Samutsevich.
In 2018, four members of the group, including Verlizov, managed to protest in front of Putin, invading the pitch at the start of the second half of the World Cup final in Russia between France and Croatia. But those present did not quite understand: they were dressed in police uniforms.
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