“It Was Foolproof”: Pussy Riot’s Maria Alyokhina Escapes Russia Disguised As A Food Delivery Worker

By Lara Kramer  •  in News
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Maria Alyokhina, a member of the punk band Pussy Riot, claimed that she managed to flee from Russia masquerading as a food delivery worker.

Despite several arrests and intervals of detention, Alyokhina told the New York Times that she ultimately escaped after Russian authorities informed her she’d be sent to a penal colony if she failed to leave. According to the New York Times, she had been under “effective house imprisonment” and had publicly denounced the war in Ukraine.

She stated that she disguised herself in a puffy green jacket, typical of a food courier in order to avoid detection. Her partner is shown wearing the jacket and lugging a hefty lunchbox in images she shared with the New York Times.

source: Twitter

Alyokhina wore platform boots with no laces on her week-long trek from Russia to Belarus to Lithuania. Shoelaces were not allowed in prison, therefore wet towelettes were used instead.

She told the New York Times that she will be wearing the boots when Pussy Riot begins touring.

“I don’t believe Russia has the right to exist any longer,” she told the New York Times. “Well before that, there were concerns about how it was unified, by what principles, and where it was headed. But I no longer believe that is a debate.”

Over the previous decade, Alyokhina has been detained multiple times for her demonstrations with Pussy Riot. The group gained international attention in 2012 when they performed an anti-Putin protest anthem inside a Moscow church, condemning the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church. “Mother Mary, please drive Putin away,” the women cried, their faces veiled by ski masks.

For the act, Alyokhina and two other members were found guilty of “hooliganism” and sentenced to two years in prison. She was released two months before the completion of her sentence, but the New York Times noted that she has been arrested and jailed six times since last summer for her advocacy.

source: TIME

Another member of the Pussy Riot, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, was added to a list of Russian “foreign agents” last year, which necessitates those on the list to follow “stringent financial reporting requirements” and add a disclaimer to anything they share that designates them as foreign agents.

Alyokhina also expressed her desire to return to Russia someday.

Following that, last Thursday, the feminist arts collective and punk rock band stepped to the stage with an antiwar statement, performing for the first time in three years after its lead singer departed Russia in response to President Putin’s repression of dissidents.

Maria characterised her choice to leave Russia as “spontaneous” as she spoke in Berlin at the opening of a planned 19-show European tour to fundraise for victims of the Ukraine war.

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