[34] During the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Maria Alyokhina and Lucy Shtein, who are in a relationship, were able to escape house arrest in Russia, and each of them fled the country disguised as delivery drivers, a month apart, to Lithuania.

[42] In an interview with Gazeta.ru, a band member described their two-minute concerts as performance art, creating images of "pure protest, saying: super heroes in balaclavas and acid bright tights seize public space in Moscow."

In a February 2012 interview with Vice magazine, Pussy Riot member "Serafima" named her major feminist influences as Simone de Beauvoir, Andrea Dworkin, Emmeline Pankhurst, Shulamith Firestone, Kate Millett, Rosi Braidotti and Judith Butler.

According to Elianna Kan in the American Reader, Pussy Riot's feminism focused on the repression of authoritarian regimes that created idealised ideas of sexism, sex and family life.

[61] In an opinion piece for The New York Times, Pitchfork Media reviewer Michael Idov wrote, "judging [Pussy Riot] on artistic merit would be like chiding the Yippies because Pigasus the Immortal, the pig they ran for president in 1968, was not a viable candidate.

[48][60] A judge found two members of the group, Galkina and Schebleva, "guilty under article 20.2 of the Administrative Code (violation of the rules for conducting rallies and pickets) and imposed a fine of 500 rubles on each.

[86] The song, which they described as a punk moleben (supplicatory prayer), borrowed its opening melody and refrain from Sergei Rachmaninoff's "Bogoroditse Devo, Raduisya" (Ave Maria), from the All Night Vigil.

[125] In "Putin Zassal", Pussy Riot had stated "The Orthodox Religion is a hardened penis / Coercing its subjects to accept conformity", among other examples of the group's antagonism to the Church as an organization, which it views as corrupt.

[138][139] Writing for The New Republic, Russian-American journalist Julia Ioffe commented that by arguing that Samutsevich was innocent because she had not participated, Khrunova's defense had implied that Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina had in fact committed a crime, and had cut off "the one path to redemption that the group actually had: ignoring the court's proceedings and denying its legitimacy".

[142] The decision upon a general-security women's corrective labor colony (the most common type of prison in Russia) in the Republic of Mordovia, approximately 400 kilometers from Moscow, was later confirmed by Tolokonnikova's husband.

[147] Tolokonnikova also has experienced friction with inmates at IK-14, who have regarded her "at best with contempt, at worst with hostility", according to a report by Aleksey Baranovsky, Coordinator of the Human Rights Center "Russian Verdict".

[152] Opposition activist Alexey Navalny described Pussy Riot as "fools who commit petty crimes for the sake of publicity",[153] but opposed the verdict, which he believed had been "written by Vladimir Putin" as "revenge",[152] for a stunt not socially dangerous enough to justify keeping the women behind bars.

[155] On September 13, 2012, Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev called for the women's early release, saying that the time they had already served awaiting trial was sufficient punishment, and further incarceration would be "counterproductive".

[165] On June 30, 2013, Vladimir Putin signed a bill imposing jail terms and fines for insulting people's religious feelings, which some have seen as a response to the "punk prayer" performed by the Pussy Riot in a Moscow cathedral.

[183] At the conclusion of the trial, a series of Levada Center polls showed that, of 1600 Russians surveyed in 45 cities nationwide, 42% also believed Pussy Riot had been arrested for insulting the shrines and beliefs of the Orthodox Church.

[196] While acknowledging the support, members of Pussy Riot distanced themselves from Western artists and reiterated their opposition to the capitalist model of art as commodity:[197] One of them, identified as Orange, said: We're flattered, of course, that Madonna and Björk have offered to perform with us.

[213] While attending the Women in the World Summit in New York on April 4, 2014, Hillary Clinton posed with band members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina for a picture she later posted on Twitter.

[220] In Kyiv, Inna Shevchenko, a topless feminist activist from the group FEMEN, used a chainsaw to destroy a four-meter wooden sculpture of Christ on the cross, on a hill overlooking the city center.

[citation needed] Conservative Orthodox activists staged counter-demonstrations, bursting into a pro-Pussy Riot event at a theatre, and shouting slogans such as "Repent", and "Why do you hate the Russian people?

[230] In early September 2012, unidentified vandals drew a "feminist caricature" of Saint Nino on Qvashveti Church in Tbilisi, Georgia, accompanied by the English-language words "Free Pussy Riot!

[233] On October 31, 2012, Comedy Central aired the South Park episode "A Scause for Applause", which ends with Jesus ripping open his robe to reveal the slogan "Free Pussy Riot".

Containing statements from the October 10 appeal, the print version also includes new tributes by Bianca Jagger, Peaches & Simonne Jones, Tobi Vail, Barbara Browning, and Vivien Goldman.

[She] felt it deep inside that Putin equals death, medieval torture, [a] knife in the back, and stagnation... new Dark ages for Russia"[253] In 2014, Nadya Tolokonnikova and Pyotr Verzilov founded MediaZona, an independent Russian news website that focuses on abuses and corruption in the criminal justice system.

[261] On October 19, 2012, the Khamovniki District Court in Moscow rejected an appeal for deferment of sentence filed by Violetta Volkova on behalf of Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina, on the grounds that the case did not fall within its jurisdiction.

We belong to leftist anti-capitalist ideology—we charge no fees for viewing our artwork, all our videos are distributed freely on the web, the spectators to our performances are always spontaneous passers by, and we never sell tickets to our "shows."

The action was supposed to be concerned with the prisoners in the Bolotnaya Square case, corrupt Olympic officials, the plight of the arrested environmentalist Yevgeny Vitishko [ru] and suppressed freedoms in Russia.

According to BBC correspondent Rafael Saakov the five women left the police station in balaclavas singing their song "Putin Will Teach You to Love the Motherland" on the streets of Adler.

[275] On February 19, 2014, during the second attempt to film "Putin Will Teach You to Love the Motherland" near the building of Sochi Seaport the group was beaten by uniformed Cossacks working in a security capacity for the Olympics.

[289] On July 15, 2018, three female members of Pussy Riot and one man (Pyotr Verzilov, the husband of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova), dressed as police officers, performed a football pitch invasion of Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium during the second half of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final match between France and Croatia.

[294] Broadcaster and writer Scott Simon, the host of Weekend Edition Saturday, a news show on NPR, said: There was a conspicuous act of bravery in the second half of this week's World Cup championship game....