A conversation with Russian protest group Pussy Riot

Ukraine saw the largest number of Russian drone strikes over the weekend since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

More than 70 drones were launched — many of them aimed at the capital Kyiv — but Ukraine says it was able to intercept almost all of them. Still, parts of the capital were damaged and remain without power.

There are many Russian critics of the war in Ukraine. Those inside Russia generally keep quiet, while others are silenced through imprisonment. Others have left the country, including the four members of the feminist activist collective Pussy Riot.

The group is now on a tour of North America. Pussy Riot is known for its provocations against the government of President Vladimir Putin, which became more pointed after Putin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

But the group wasn’t heard from much in recent years. One of the newest members of the collective, Olga Borisova, explained that the group was dealing with legal troubles and prison sentences in Russia in early 2020, which was followed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

It’s that invasion that’s prompted the group to perform again now.

“I believed, and I still believe, that the main focus should be on Ukraine and we should all unite and help them,” said Maria “Masha” Alyokhina, one of the founding members of the collective.

The group insists that it’s not a band or a punk group, but rather a protest feminist collective, as well as a movement fighting Putin’s dictatorship and all dictatorships around the world. Alyokhina describes the movement in her memoir, “Riot Days.”

One part of it follows Alyokhina as she began her prison sentence in 2012 for her role in Pussy Riot’s notorious protest at Moscow’s Christ the Savior cathedral, when she’s told not to discuss politics.

The group members were sentenced to two years in prison on charges of hooliganism.

Alyokhina said her experience in prison, including time in solitary confinement, is reminiscent of Russian gulags.

The group’s performances do, however, have a punk aesthetic. Their story is told through head-banging, crowd-surfing music, along with an ever-present multimedia component.

“[It’s] an experience that for more than 10 years has been inspiring, taxing and surreal,” Alyokhina told The World’s host Marco Werman.

She said that their 2012 “action” as she called it was in response to the Kremlin trying to build up religious support for Putin’s third-term as president by exploiting the church for political reasons.

“I mean, the whole system [wants] to show you that you’re small, that you’re alone, that nobody needs your voice, and you cannot change anything, so the only thing which [is] actually on the opposite side is the solidarity of people,” she said.

The group recently released a video, with music is based on Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake,” speaking out against Putin, his war in Ukraine and what he’s done to democracy in Russia.

Their current performance “Riot Days” has seven more dates, from Tuesday in St. Louis, Missouri, through Dec. 8 in Brooklyn, New York.

To hear the full discussion with Marco Werman, click on the player above.