Russian art collective Pussy Riot have officially been classified as an extremist organisation by the Ministry of Justice in Moscow. The decision comes two weeks after Prosecutor General Alexander Gutsan filed a lawsuit seeking the designation in the city's Tverskoy Court.
The collective, who first came to international attention after playing the 'punk prayer' Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Chase Putin Away – a song directed at Russian President Vladimir Putin – during a guerrilla show at Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in 2012, are now banned from all political actions and performances in Russia.
“When I was tried for the punk prayer, facing seven years in a labour camp, I told the judge and prosecutors that I was still freer than they would ever be," says Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolokonnikova. "Today, exiled from my own country, I still feel the same. I can say what I think about Putin – that he is an ageing sociopath spreading his venom around the world like cancer. In today’s Russia, telling the truth is extremism. So be it - we’re proud extremists, then.
"While russian trolls will flip on their VPNs and take to X and Meta to talk shit about Europe and the USA, they cannot even call a war a war. They cannot even tweet or use social media. And they certainly cannot call their president what he is, an ageing and impotent loser. Clinging to some bygone dream while he runs his country to ashes, and exports his autocratic and murderous tendencies to the earth like a spreading cancer.
"This court order is designed to erase the very existence of Pussy Riot from the minds of Russians. Owning a balaclava, having our song on your computer, or liking one of our posts could lead to prison time. Pussy Riot has effectively become 'those who cannot be named' in Russia - and in countries that cooperate with Russia on extradition: Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, and many others."
Tolokonnikova was arrested in absentia in November 2023, while six other members of the collective – Peter Verzilov, Maria Alyokhina, Taso Pletner, Olga Borisova, Diana Burkot and Alina Petrova – have been handed sentences in absentia in the two years since.
In July, the Russian State Duma passed a law making it illegal to search for four videos by the group. The videos, Free the Cobblestones, Kropotkin Vodka, Death to Prison Freedom to Protest and Putin Has Pissed Himself, were originally placed on the Federal List of Extremist Materials in 2012.
According to the new law, which came into force on September 1, fans can be fined up to 5,000 rubles (£47/$63) if they intentionally search for the videos, even if they don't subsequently share them publicly. The fines also apply to users who use VPNs to avoid detection.
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