Russian artist and activist Nadya Tolokonnikova, a member of Pussy Riot, a feminist punk group, is harshly attacking Russian President Vladimir Putin in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
Posted at 2:54 p.m.
“You can’t be nice to Putin. He is crazy. He could open fire on his own people,” she said in a newspaper interview. The Guardian released Wednesday.
Knowing better than anyone that her words could harm her, the 32-year-old was in an undisclosed location when she spoke to journalist Zoe Williams of the British daily.
In 2012, Mr.me Tolokonnikova had been convicted of hooliganism and imprisoned for two years for having said a punk prayer in which she implored the Virgin Mary to oust Vladimir Putin from power in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.
Since her release, she has been constantly monitored and restrained in her movements. On December 30, 2021, Russia designated the artist and art collector as a “foreign agent”, another way of restricting her freedoms.
“Putin signed a law sentencing anyone who talks about a war in Ukraine to 15 years in prison. We must call it a special military operation, ”she denounces.
Since the start of the invasion on February 24, she and relatives have raised funds for Ukrainians. While saying he is “in panic” and “crying every day”, the artist denounces the double discourse of Western leaders and business people who continue to talk business with Russia.
She recalls having set an example, going so far as to go on hunger strike out of conviction. “When you fight a dictator like Putin, you have to show others that you are ready to die. And I was. »