After the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Pussy Riot publicly voiced their support for Ukraine and openly protested against the war and the strengthening of dictatorship. In Russia, 7 members of the group have been arrested in absentia, and 2 managed to escape from house arrest. Today, Pussy Riot continue to stage political actions and tour with their performance RIOT DAYS. The group actively supports Ukraine and raises funds for aid, while positioning itself against what they call Putin’s “fascist” regime.
Outside of the band, Nadya Tolokonnikova has been raising funds for the Ukrainian army and openly speaks about the importance of supporting it. Her former husband and creative collaborator Pyotr Verzilov is currently in Ukraine, serving in the Armed Forces, after previously surviving an FSB-organized poisoning.
Maria Alyokhina has compared Putin to a new Hitler and calls for stopping Russia’s aggression and showing solidarity with Ukraine.
We have gathered quotes from interviews with the band’s members after the invasion and prepared a brief overview of Pussy Riot and their position.
After the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Pussy Riot publicly voiced their support for Ukraine and openly protested against the war and the strengthening of dictatorship. In Russia, 7 members of the group have been arrested in absentia, and 2 managed to escape from house arrest. Today, Pussy Riot continue to stage political actions and tour with their performance RIOT DAYS. The group actively supports Ukraine and raises funds for aid, while positioning itself against what they call Putin’s “fascist” regime.
Outside of the band, Nadya Tolokonnikova has been raising funds for the Ukrainian army and openly speaks about the importance of supporting it. Her former husband and creative collaborator Pyotr Verzilov is currently in Ukraine, serving in the Armed Forces, after previously surviving an FSB-organized poisoning.
Maria Alyokhina has compared Putin to a new Hitler and calls for stopping Russia’s aggression and showing solidarity with Ukraine.
We have gathered quotes from interviews with the band’s members after the invasion and prepared a brief overview of Pussy Riot and their position.
Nadya Tolokonnikova:
«It was obvious to me from the very beginning that if someone attacks you, you don’t turn the other cheek — especially if they’re trying to kill you. I want Ukraine to win, and I will do absolutely everything necessary to make that happen.»
With the start of Russia’s invasion in 2022, Nadya took part in fundraising for Ukraine through a DAO platform, where decisions are made collectively. She advocated for supporting the Ukrainian army alongside humanitarian initiatives. As a result, part of the funds raised was directed to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, medical supplies, animal aid, an LGBTQ+ support fund during the war, and other causes.
“In February 2023, I personally donated to a unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Glory to Ukraine!”
Nadya says that most of her further support was done privately and she cannot disclose the details. Among the public actions, she mentions “Putin’s Ashes,” in which Pussy Riot burned a portrait of Putin and collected the ashes. Artist Shepard Fairey created a poster for the action, the posters were sold, and the proceeds were sent to a Ukrainian Armed Forces unit near Bakhmut.
“This is not only Russia’s war against Ukraine —it is Putin’s war against democracy itself, against the very idea that one can try to build a democratic society. Critics will say that there is no such thing as a 100% true democracy. That’s correct — but there is an ideal. And Putin is doing everything he can to destroy that ideal and replace it with cynicism and the rule of force. That’s why I believe it is crucial for those countries that see themselves as democracies, and aspire to that ideal, to support Ukraine.”
In 2014, Nadya Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina founded the independent media outlet Mediazona, focused on reporting political repression in Russia. The publisher was Pyotr Verzilov — Nadya’s former husband, associated with the art group Voina and Pussy Riot. After the arrest of Pussy Riot members in 2012, he became their unofficial spokesperson, actively drawing the attention of world leaders and international media.
In 2018, Verzilov took part in a Pussy Riot action during the World Cup final in Moscow.
In September 2018, Pyotr Verzilov was poisoned shortly after a protest action and subsequent court proceedings. He was urgently transferred to Berlin’s Charité clinic, where doctors saved his life and confirmed signs of deliberate poisoning. The case has been linked to the FSB, as such methods have long been considered a “signature” of the Russian security services. After the start of the war, Pyotr went to Ukraine and joined its Armed Forces.
Pussy Riot members Maria Alyokhina and Lucy Shtein remained in Russia until the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, already facing criminal cases for their protests. After the war began, the pressure intensified: new charges were brought against them, they were fined and repeatedly placed under arrest on accusations of “discrediting the army,” with the threat of prison sentences looming.
On the day of Russia’s invasion, February 24, 2022, Maria Alyokhina was in a prison cell, then placed under house arrest with an electronic bracelet, and later sentenced to serve time in a detention facility. At the same time, a European tour of Pussy Riot in support of Ukraine was scheduled. To participate, Alyokhina removed her bracelet, disguised herself as a courier, evaded the police,
and crossed several borders. Lucy Shtein was also under house arrest for her anti-war stance; she cut off her bracelet and fled Russia in spring 2022.
She was later sentenced to 6 years in prison.
Maria Alyokhina:
«On one hand, it’s really great and important that we have this microphone. We have the opportunity to speak out and to refuse.
But on the other hand, it’s a huge responsibility for us, because we understand how many people don’t have it, and how many are forced to remain silent simply because they are in the country, or because they are in prison, and you don’t know their names. Or they left the country, and here they are simply unknown. About one million Russian citizens have left the country since 2022.»
Diana Burkot — one of the participants in the Pussy Riot action in the church, and a musician in the bands Fanny Kaplan and Rosemary Loves a Blackberry::
«Russia is nothing special; it could be any country. People sometimes don’t understand or appreciate what they have: freedom of speech and all the privileges of a democratic system. Russia is a good example of how all of this can be lost.»
Alyokhina explains that over the years since the founding of Pussy Riot, Russia has transformed from a «classic authoritarian state» into a totalitarian nation that «occupies the territories of other countries.»
«We cannot undo the nightmare created by the Russian army and Vladimir Putin. But I believe that we, Russians, can do something good. As a human being, and especially as an artist, it is very important to express our solidarity with Ukraine and our call to stop this war.«
According to Alyokhina, the song performed in the church criticized the close ties between the church and the authorities, as well as Putin’s repressions: the suppression of freedom, persecution of LGBTQ people, and arrests of activists.
«Eleven years later, as the Kremlin continues to push a regressive ‘traditional’ Orthodox agenda — banning the LGBTQ movement as ‘extremist,’ restricting abortions, prohibiting transgender people from changing their gender, and waging a war against Ukraine, which Putin often describes in messianic terms — the protest in the cathedral now seems like a prophetic warning.»
Alyokhina calls Putin the second Hitler:
«Propaganda works just like in the Third Reich. There are cases when parents report to the police if their twenty-year-old children join demonstrations…»
Text from Riot Days:
«The cries of Mariupol under the blue domed sky. The holy place is not empty and has long been bought. An eraser in power. ‘Z’ means swastika. Tanks on a holiday
Russian classics while the elders are decorated with ribbons We are becoming foreign agents»
Riot Days is a play based on the memoir of Pussy Riot’s Maria Alyokhina. It’s a story of resistance, repression and revolution in a mixture of concert, rally, theatre and political happening.
The show has toured all over the world, it gave more than 200 performances in most of Europe, USA, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand
Nadya Tolokonnikova has been opposing Donald Trump for many years. In 2017, she stated that Trump was part of Putin’s project to create a new conservative world order and reminded people of Russia’s interference in the U.S. elections to support him.
She called Trump “Putin’s friend,” published posts against him, and, together with Pussy Riot, released a video highlighting the dangers of a Trump victory.
In 2025, Pussy Riot participated in the
“No Kings Day” march carrying a banner reading “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Russia” — a reference to the Trump administration allegedly adopting authoritarian practices similar to Putin’s.
Additionally, Nadya’s exhibition “Police State” in Los Angeles was interrupted by the deployment of the National Guard under Trump’s orders due to protests against ICE.
