Russian Pussy Riot member barred from a ending Edinburgh Festival for politcal activism

Maria Alyokhina, pictured, who served a jail sentence for a performance in a Moscow church, has since carried on political activism, most recently protesting in Moscow against mistreatment of prisoners.

Russian security services prevented Alyokhina of punk protest group Pussy Riot from flying out of the country to perform at a top arts festival in Scotland, she said.

Alyokhina wrote on Facebook that as she was about to depart from Moscow to perform a theatre show based on her book at Britain’s very popular and long-running Edinburgh Festival, “at the airport the guys from the FSB border service told me that I’m barred from leaving the country”.

At passport control, a border guard said her documents needed extra checks.

Then an FSB officer told her she was on a no-fly list, she told the Mediazona website, which reports on activities of political prisoners.

She is apparently barred from leaving Russia because she has failed to carry out 140 hours of community service, Russian news agencies reported, citing sources in law enforcement bodies.

In July, a Moscow court fined her 400 000 rubles (about R88 000) for failing to carry out community service sentences handed out for two protests.

The protests were against security services and the blocking of a Telegram messenger service.

The crackdown comes after Pussy Riot members invaded the pitch at the Fifa World Cup final between France and Croatia at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow last month in what they called a political protest.

This led to 15-day sentences for four members.

Alyokhina did not take part in the protest.

Her show Pussy Riot: Riot Days is set to open at the Fringe theatre in Edinburgh on Friday and run until August 19.