Five members of Pussy Riot were sentenced in absentia on charges related to anti-war performances critical of Russia’s military actions, a representative for the group confirmed to Rolling Stone on Monday.
As Mediazona — an outlet co-founded by Pussy Riot members — reports and their rep confirms, the members sentenced included Maria Alyokhina, Diana Burkot, Taso Pletner, Olga Borisova, and Alina Petrova, with the terms ranging from eight-to-13 years. Moscow’s Basmanny District Court delivered the verdict, with the charges stemming from a December 2022 music video titled “Mama, Don’t Watch TV,” which authorities alleged spread “false information” about the Russian military, and an April 2024 performance in Munich, Germany, during which a member of Pussy Riot urinated on a portrait of Vladimir Putin, per Mediazona.
Through the band’s legal representatives, the five Pussy Riot members rejected the charges, claiming the trial and sentences are politically motivated.
Burkot said in a statement to Rolling Stone that as the author of the music in “Mama, Don’t Watch TV,” she stands “by every single word, and my anti-war stance is clear.”
“The full-scale war against Ukraine has been going on for more than three years. And I continue to believe: Ukraine must win, and Putin must face trial in The Hague,” Burkot continued. “The Russian government is a textbook example of patriarchy — the worst kind of abuser: a tyrant, a narcissist, a gaslighter, a toxic manipulator who lives off the destruction of others’ will.”
Burkot urged “every person in this world to use their voice,” adding, “Activism now is needed like daily practice, because only together can we resist and overcome the crisis of democracy.” Burkot said that fortunately, the Russian government has “no access to my physical body,” but that “even if I were in Russia, I would say the same thing: go fuck yourself.”
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In 2023, member Nadya Tolokonnikova was arrested in absentia and added to Russia’s International Wanted list, while Petya Verzilov (also known as Pyotr) was sentenced in absentia to eight years and four months in April 2024 and added to the list of terrorists in December 2024.
In June, Pussy Riot showed solidarity on “No Kings” Day in the United States and joined the Los Angeles demonstration while displaying a red banner that read, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Russia.”
