A Moscow court has sentenced five members of the exiled feminist art collective Pussy Riot to prison in absentia on charges relating to anti-war protest and performances critical of Vladimir Putin’s regime. The jail terms delivered by Judge Evgeniya Nikolaeva of Moscow’s Basmanny District Court ranged from eight to 13 years, according to Mediazona, the news outlet founded by Pussy Riot.
Activists Maria “Masha” Alyokhina, Diana Burkot, Olga Borisova, Alina Petrova, and Taso Pletner were accused of disseminating “false information” about the Russian military in the collective’s 2022 anti-war music video “Mama, Don’t Watch TV,” and in a 2024 performance at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich during which a member urinated on a portrait of Putin.
Founding Pussy Riot member Alyokhina received the harshest prison sentence of 13 years and 15 days. Pletner was sentenced to 11 years, and the other three members were each given eight-year terms. Mediazona reported that the prosecutor initially requested longer sentences for the activists.
“I stand by every single word and my anti-war stance is clear,” Burkot said in a statement posted on X, calling the verdict a “joke.”
“The paradox is that rapists and murderers in Russia get 3–4 years, sometimes spending less than a year in prison before signing a military contract, killing Ukrainians and then they return freely into society, with PTSD, and may end up back in prison for yet another killing … Meanwhile, activists receive monstrous sentences for their opinions,” Burkot said.
Still from Pussy Riot’s 2013 music video, “Like a Red Prison” (photo courtesy Pussy Riot)
Since the group formed in 2011, Pussy Riot’s membership has fluctuated between 10 and 20 members. They are known for their balaclava-wearing performances protesting Putin’s regime and Russia’s ongoing bombardment of Ukraine, which has killed at least 13,883 civilians since its invasion in 2022, according to a United Nations report released in August.
In 2023, Pussy Riot co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova was placed on Russia’s Wanted List and later arrested in absentia on charges related to anti-Putin protests.
In her statement, Burkot continued to rail against Russia’s ongoing assault on Ukraine and called for Putin to “face trial in The Hague.”
“Activism now is needed like daily practice, because only together can we resist and overcome the crisis of democracy,” Burkot said.
“Fortunately, they have no access to my physical body,” Burkot continued. “And even if I were in Russia, I would say the same thing: Go f**k yourself.
