Pussy Riot singer vows to return after Moscow escape
THE leader of the activist band Pussy Riot has told The Sunday Telegraph she plans to return to Russia in a few weeks despite facing the prospect of years in prison after recently escaping Moscow while under house arrest.
Maria “Masha” Alyokhina and her band, known for their anti-Kremlin publicity stunts, performed this week in Berlin as part of a European tour that began days after she staged a daring departure from Russia.
Ms Alyokhina had been under house arrest for her political activism and was to spend 21 days in a penal colony. In order not to miss the tour, she slipped away from police stationed outside her Moscow flat alongside her girlfriend wearing green food delivery uniforms they bought online.
But Ms Alyokhina said she planned to return to the country after the tour and was not afraid of the repercussions.
“I don’t have time for fear. I mean, it’s a very tough schedule,” she said, with the band set to play 17 shows in six European countries in just over three weeks, raising money for Ukrainian refugee charities.
“There’s no other option, I think,” Ms Alyokhina said when asked why she decided to leave. “If I can help with concerts and the tour, it is more important than other things right now.
“When exactly [I’ll return] I don’t know – I have some plans, I wanted to go to Ukraine and also visit a refugee camp in Ukraine on the Polish border – but these are my thoughts at this stage.”
Returning dissidents, particularly those with a high profile, have been made targets by Russian authorities.
Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin’s archcritic, is serving an 11-year sentence in a penal colony. He returned last year from treatment in Berlin after being poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent.