A well-known Pussy Riot activist has fled Russia disguised as a meal delivery clerk

Maria Alyoshina was under house arrest in the apartment of one of her friends when it turned out that Russia wanted her to serve her sentence in a penal colony and thought that it was time to leave the country at least temporarily. The New York Times reported that she disguised herself as a meal delivery boy to deceive the police who were monitoring the apartment. She left her cell phone behind to avoid being tracked. A friend drove her to the border with Belarus, and a week later she managed to get to Lithuania.

“I was glad I did because it was a huge and unexpected rejection from the Russian authorities. I still don’t quite understand what I did,” Alyoshina told the New York Times from an apartment in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. I don’t think Russia has a right to exist anymore. Even before, there were questions about how they unite, what values ​​they unite in, and where they are heading. But now I don’t think that’s a question anymore.”

Alyochina was arrested in February. Then it was put under surveillance. This was another move by the Russian government against a member of the group who is highly critical of those in power in the Kremlin.

Alyoshina had previously called for demonstrations for the imprisoned detainees of the regime, Alexei Navalny. I went on hunger strike shortly thereafter. In 2012, she was sentenced to two years in prison for protesting against President Vladimir Putin in a church with a so-called punk prayer.

The opposition said the Russian rulers had placed several members of Pussy Riot on a list of so-called foreign agents to intimidate them and limit their influence.

Pussy Riot is scheduled to perform on May 20 at Het Depot in Leuven. Aleutsgina will be on tour with De Morgen.