Pussy Riot

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
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 an illegal 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!”.

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 have reportedly left Russia fearing prosecution.

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

Origins, musical style, and ideology

A performance at Lobnoye Mesto in Red Square, on January 20, 2012

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 have said,

"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 existence of Pussy Riot was first revealed on 1 October 2011, when Tolokonnikova and Samutsevich gave a lecture on "punk feminism" as members of Voina. They played a recording of the song Ubei sexista ("Kill the Sexist"), billing the performers as "a new Russian punk band called Pussy Riot".

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." Furthermore,

"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 six songs and five videos. An Associated Press reporter described them as "badly recorded, based on simple riffs and scream-like singing", and described by "many critics and listeners" 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 [Pussy Riot] 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."

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, while tearing apart down feather pillows, showering feathers onto the train platform below.

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. Some performers discharged fire extinguishers into the air, while others inside the windows of a fashion boutique simulated masturbation. They then invaded the stage where a fashion show was taking place, interrupting the catwalk of the models.

In December 2011, the group performed atop a garage beside a prison where Alexey Navalny was serving his 15-day sentence, playing the song Smert' tyur'me, svobodu protestu ("Death To Prison, Freedom To Protest"). They hung banners with protest slogans, and were applauded by prisoners watching inside, through the bars of the jail cell windows.

On January 20, 2012, they played a song on the Lobnoye Mesto in Red Square, entitled Putin Zassal ("Putin Pissed Himself"), while igniting a smoke bomb. This led to some members being arrested and briefly detained.

Lyrics to most Pussy Riot songs are simultaneously anti-government and pro-feminist. Their song Kropotkin Vodka takes its title from Russian anarcho-communist Peter Kropotkin, and metaphorically concerns the assassination of Kremlin officials by fatal poisoning. Meanwhile, the song's lyrics challenge Russian housewives to take up a revolutionary struggle: "Occupy the city using your frying pans / Take your vacuum cleaner and get off on it, have an orgasm".

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 [imprisonment] is not enough, give us eighteen!"

All Pussy Riot songs to date are less than two minutes in duration, with the exception of Putin zazhigaet kostry, which clocks in at two-and-a-half minutes. This underground, studio-only, recording featured brief guitar solos, which increase its length. While consistent with punk-rock style, the short durations of songs performed live are also a pragmatic decision, because of the likelihood that their live performances will soon be halted by authorities.

Action in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

Interior of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

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. 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.”

Arrest and prosecution

On February 26, a criminal case was opened against the band members “who shouted insults at believers and churchmen at the Christ the Savior Cathedral”. 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.

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 are 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 Orthodox Church have been split on the case. About 5,000 lay members have signed a petition calling for forgiveness.

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.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova

Yekaterina Samutsevich

Maria Alyokhina

The three Pussy Riot members at their trial in Tagansky District Court

Trial, Conviction and sentencing

The trial of the three women started in Moscow’s Khamovniki, or Khamovnichesky, 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. The Russian president Vladimir Putin said there was "nothing good" about the band's protest, but added: "Nonetheless, I don't think that they should be judged so harshly for this.""I hope the court will come out with the right decision, a well-founded one," he said during a visit to the Olympics.

The band members started to gain noticeable attention, both within Russia and internationally, because of allegations of harsh treatment in custody, and the risk of a seven-year jail sentence.

The defendants pleaded not guilty, insisting 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.” On July 31, a Financial Times editorial said the women had become “an international cause célèbre” due to the harsh treatment they have received. Their lawyers agreed that the circumstances of the case have revived the Soviet-era tradition of the show trial. On August 15, protesters gathered in support of Pussy Riot at Christ the Saviour Cathedral, and held up placards reading Blessed are the merciful. They were quickly set upon by cathedral guards.

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. Defense lawyers said they would appeal the verdict, although they saw little prospect of it being overturned. “Under no circumstances will the girls ask for a pardon [from Putin],” said Mark Feygin. “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.” Supporters and critics of the band both 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.

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.”

While some Kremlin loyalists strongly criticized the verdict. Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said it has dealt “yet another blow to the court system and citizens’ trust in it.” “The country’s image and its attractiveness in the eyes of investors have suffered an enormous damage,” he said. President Putin responded that in his opinion, the verdict was necessary, due to the history of persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union; Putin argued that religious organizations in particular 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."

Initial reports 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 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. According to the group’s lawyer, the women asked authorities to let them serve their sentence at the pre-trial detention facility in Moscow. “All the three defendants wrote a letter to the pre-trial detention facility’s administration with a request to let them stay in the facility,” lawyer Mark Feigin said on September 16, 2012.

Reactions and Aftermath

In response to questions posed by the The Guardian and handed to the band via their lawyer, Pussy Riot has accused Putin and the powerful 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 2 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. . Some commentators pointed out that excessively harsh prison terms are by no means unknown in western countries. Some press raised concerns that a place of worship is not an appropriate venue for any form of protest, and that their cause cannot morally justify such an action.

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.”

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 stated that in her opinion the judgment was politically motivated, and “not in line with the law, common sense or mercy”. A protest organizer and opposition politician, Alexei Navalny, 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.” However, Irina Yarovaya, a member of the General Council of Putin’s United Russia party, defended the conviction, stating “they deserved it”.

Lech Wałęsa criticised their performance, saying "I don't support the punishment, but this was tasteless. The kicking and stuff is too much for the sanctuary. I wouldn't want censorship, but to make such outrageous acts in a sanctuary is an offense against faith." Nevertheless he wrote to Vladimir Putin urging him to pardon the women, saying "I must say with all firmness that this form of punishment, by physical harassment and isolation, shouldn’t be used against people who fight with words and promote their views in the society even in such an iconoclastic way."

On September 13, 2012, Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev called for their early release, saying that the time they had already served awaiting trial was sufficient punishment, and further incarceration would be "counterproductive".

Public opinion in Russia

The court's decision aroused little sensation in Russia. 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 1930's 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.

International support

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
• 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
• Eileen Myles
• Kate Nash
• 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
• 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”.

Protests

Protests in Moscow in June 2012

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 depicting members of Pussy Riot, and supporting 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, three people dressed in the colorful clothes and balaclavas, staged a protest during a service in Germany’s most famous cathedral in Cologne. A 20-year-old woman and two men aged 23 and 25 shouted slogans wildly and held up a banner which read “Free Pussy Riot and all prisoners” in English. The Cologne protesters were bustled out by cathedral officials, and have been charged with breaching the peace and disturbing a religious service. Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, a local newspaper, reports that “disturbing a religious establishment” could result in a fine or up to three years imprisonment.

Escalating tensions

Orthodox Crosses were also cut down in at least four locations in Russia. The speaker of the ruling party United Russia described these incidents as copycat attacks inspired by Pussy Riot. 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 have 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.

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. A few Russian media outlets reported the killings as being either “committed by” or “inspired by” Pussy Riot supporters, while Pyotr Verzilov accused the Russian secret services of framing Pussy Riot supporters. The next day, however, Igor Danilevsky, a 38-year-old professor at a Kazan university, confessed to the killings, saying he wrote the message to distract 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”.

Abbot Tryphon of All Merciful Savior Orthodox Monastery (Vashon Island, WA) 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”.

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.”

Both Tolokonnikova and Samutsevich were also involved in several other actions by Voina, including Cockroach Court, in which cockroaches were apparently released into the foyer of the Tagansky Courthouse, and Kiss Garbage, in which female activists forcibly kissed policewomen on the Moscow Metro.

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 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 Pussy Riot members participated in this action.

Discography

Albums

• Ubei sexista (ru:Убей сексиста; Kill a sexist) (2012)

External links

• Official blog
• Free Pussy Riot website
• Pussy Riot e-Book from The Feminist Press
• Pussy Riot on YouTube
• Pussy riot on russmus.net - lyrics and translations
• www.artprotest.org Russian language site with extensive information on Pussy Riot, Voina and Russian protest art