TESTIMONY. Maria Alekhina, member of Pussy Riot, tells how she fled Putin’s Russia and her desire to commit to Ukraine

It is a story worthy of a novel. Under the threat of a new prison sentence, and just before her trial, Maria Alekhina, one of the members of the group Pussy Riot, managed to flee Russia, disguised as a delivery girl.

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This dissident of the regime, punk, feminist, who became famous after a performance considered scandalous at the Saint Christ-Savior cathedral in Moscow ten years ago, is today in Europe for a tour. The 33-year-old woman explains to franceinfo that she left her Moscow apartment on the evening of April 20 to 21: “It was the day of my trial. I left with an electronic bracelet.”

The Pussy Riots singer was then placed under house arrest and closely watched for supporting anti-Putin protests. She could have been sentenced the same day to three weeks in prison. So she decided to flee. The idea for the delivery girl costume was his girlfriend’s. “We were walking the streets at night and then we went to my girlfriend’s apartment which was guarded by the police“, she says. We then wondered what we should do. Either go out and tell them: ‘fuck you’, or dress up in this delivery boy costume. And then began this week-long journey.”

“I want to help Ukraine as much as I can.”

Maria Alekhina

at franceinfo

maria Alekhina then puts height days to enter Belarus. She was then turned back twice at the Lithuanian border. She finally managed to enter the European Union thanks to papers sent by a friend. “I wanted to go on tour with my conscience. In Russia, it is illegal to talk about a ‘war’ and to post pictures related to this war, at the risk of going to prison.”

The artist now claims to want to help Ukraine. She wishes “probably going to a refugee camp as a volunteer.“Pussy Riot are on tour at the moment. They will be in Munich on Tuesday for a new concert in support of Ukraine.