Anti-Kremlin punk band 'Pussy Riot' designated an extremist group by Russian court

By Andrew Osborn

Russian anti-Kremlin feminist punk band and art collective 'Pussy Riot' was designated an extremist organisation by a Moscow court on Monday, banning its activities inside Russia as part of a wider crackdown on dissenting voices.

The ruling, announced by Moscow's court service, was made at a closed-door court hearing at the request of the General Prosecutor's Office.

The band's exiled members have often spoken out against Moscow's war in Ukraine, and in September a court handed them jail sentences in absentia of up to 13 years each after convicting them of telling lies about the Russian army.

The group, whose members have been labelled as "foreign agents" by the authorities, rejected the charges at the time, saying they were politically motivated.

Monday's ruling - which now sees the group share a designation with the Jehovah's Witnesses and the political organisation of late opposition politician Alexei Navalny among others - will make it easier for the authorities to go after the band's supporters inside Russia or people who have worked with them in the past if they want to.

It could also potentially make the group's dealings with Western financial institutions more difficult.

Group founder Nadya Tolokonnikova, who is outside Russia and describes herself as "geographically anonymous" for security reasons, shrugged off the designation.

"I can say what I think about (President Vladimir) Putin — that he is an ageing sociopath spreading his venom around the world like cancer. In today’s Russia, telling the truth is extremism. So be it - we’re proud extremists, then," the 36-year-old said in a statement.

"This court order is designed to erase the very existence of Pussy Riot from the minds of Russians. Owning a balaclava, having our song on your computer, or liking one of our posts could lead to prison time. Pussy Riot has effectively become 'those who cannot be named,'" she said.

Tolokonnikova, who served nearly two years in a Russian prison camp in 2012-2013 after taking part in an anti-Putin protest which a court ruled was a crude violation of public order motivated by religious hatred, is wanted by Russia on criminal charges of insulting Orthodox believers' feelings.

'THREAT TO STATE SECURITY'

The Kremlin has said some censorship is necessary at a time when it says it is locked in an existential struggle with the West which it accuses of trying to undermine national unity.

It does not comment on individual court rulings which it says are a matter for the judiciary which it says is independent despite critics asserting the opposite.

The Kremlin says that Putin, who sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, remains the country's most popular politician by far and that Russians are united behind what he is doing. It dismisses bands like 'Pussy Riot' as exiled activists who do not represent mainstream opinion inside Russia.

Providing a motivation for their request to brand the group as extremist, state prosecutors cited two of its past high-profile actions which they cast as a threat to state security, according to the TASS news agency.

One of the incidents cited was the 2012 Moscow cathedral protest, which Orthodox believers said was sacrilegious.

The other was the group's soccer pitch invasion - dressed as police officers - during the 2018 World Cup at Moscow's main stadium in front of Putin, an action the group said at the time was to promote free speech.

Leonid Solovyev, a lawyer for the band, was cited last month by TASS as saying that the group's actions had been "ironic" and not aimed at overthrowing the constitutional order.