A Moscow court has designated the feminist collective Pussy Riot as an extremist organization, effectively banning it in Russia. The ruling accuses the group of discrediting the Russian armed forces and deliberately spreading false information about the military, according to the state news agency Tass. The case was based on recent artistic actions by the collective, including the video “Mom, Don’t Watch TV” and a public appearance in Munich in April 2024, where they addressed the destruction of the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol during the war.
The lawsuit was filed by the Office of the Prosecutor General, reflecting Russia’s continued crackdown on dissent linked to the conflict. Pussy Riot, known internationally for its radical video art and provocative performances, has repeatedly drawn the attention of Russian authorities. In September, five members of the group were sentenced in absentia in Moscow to prison terms ranging from eight to thirteen years. The collective first gained global recognition in 2012 after staging a “punk prayer” inside Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior, denouncing the close ties between church and state, an action that led to the imprisonment of three of its members.
After their release, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina publicly described what they said were brutal conditions inside Russian prisons, including exhausting forced labor, chronic sleep deprivation, and routine physical abuse. They recounted severe incidents involving fellow inmates, prolonged exposure to extreme cold, compulsory medical examinations, and the death of a cellmate, experiences they said left lasting psychological scars. Human rights groups have cited their testimonies as further evidence of systemic abuses within Russia’s penitentiary system.
