Equality

The Pussy Riot Saga Continues As Two Band Members Escape Russia

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The infamous balaclava, worn by a protestor in New York. C.S. Muncy

On August 17th, the Putin administration in Russia charged three members of the feminist punk group awesomely known as Pussy Riot with hooliganism and sent them off to prison for two years. The charges were based off a performance given by Pussy Riot in February inside a cathedral, in which the group protested Putin’s close relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church.

The trial caused an international upheaval (codename: FREE PUSSY RIOT!) from human rights groups and musicians alike, both arguing that the Russian quasi-autocrat stripped the right to protest from the Russian people. Soon after, acts like the Black Keys, Madonna, Bjork and many others began to protest the country’s leadership and the band’s anti-authority stance.

However, there are two main stand-out features of Pussy Riot that has made this story just a bit more interesting. First, the balaclavas: the women in the group wear the veils onstage and had them on at the cathedral performance. And, two, the sheer number of band members: the Pussy Riot Twitter account told followers that there are about 12 other members still on the run from Russian authorities.

The notion that others were still on the run became evident when a band member played the group’s biggest hit, “Putin Lights the Fire,” from a boombox across the street as the judge delivered the verdict (we’ll talk about how epic that is some other time).

And, now, AP reported that two Pussy Rioters have already escaped the country.

After being translated from straight Cyrillic, we were left with this tweet. Here’s the translation:

Our two participants in connection with the search successfully fled the country! Recruit foreign feminists to prepare new stock!

According to the group, two of Pussy Riot’s band members have successfully escaped Russian authorities and made it out of the country. Now, they’re on a mission to gather a collective force of foreign feminist voices.

This is probably the last news Putin wants to hear – the controversy has garnered a ton of bad publicity for the third-term President. And, to add onto the leader’s bad day, the group tweeted this a few hours later:

TRANSLATION (We love the Internet):

We hasten to disappoint Kremlin reptiles: 2 women left the country because of the dangers, but Russia is still at least 12 participants Pussy Riot!

Looks like Putin’s police have some work to do. But, the real question now is, “when is the Pussy Riot movie coming out?”

We’ll keep you updated on that.

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