Russia Bans Pussy Riot, Labels Feminist Punk Group ‘Extremist’

Russia has officially designated feminist protest punk band Pussy Riot as an “extremist” organisation, a move that effectively outlaws the group and criminalises any interaction with its content inside the country.

A Moscow court on Monday said it accepted prosecutors’ requests “to recognise the punk band Pussy Riot as an extremist organisation and ban its activities on the territory of the Russian Federation.” The designation places the group in the same legal category used by authorities to silence critics of President Vladimir Putin and opponents of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Pussy Riot has been a target of Russian authorities for more than a decade. The band gained international attention in 2012 after staging a protest performance inside a Moscow church, an action that led to prison sentences for some of its members and a ban on the group’s songs and videos in Russia.

Since the launch of Russia’s full-scale offensive against Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin has sharply escalated its crackdown on dissent, outlawing dozens of organisations and initiatives critical of government policy or Moscow’s conduct in the war.

Reacting to the ruling, the band’s lawyer, Leonid Solovyov, told independent outlet SOTAvision that the decision was “another action that shuts up those who speak out of turn.”

Pussy Riot said it had anticipated the outcome. “The law is designed to erase Pussy Riot from the minds of Russian citizens,” the group wrote on social media last week.

Under Russia’s extremism laws, any interaction with the band is now illegal, including sharing or liking its content on social media, whether past or present, effectively ostracising the group within the country.

Founding member Nadya Tolokonnikova, who served two years in prison over the 2012 church protest, criticised the move in a post on X a day before the ruling. “These idiots have been working on this for years – since at least 2012,” she said.

Pussy Riot members, many of whom have lived in exile for years, have remained vocal critics of President Putin and have actively campaigned against the war in Ukraine.

Russian authorities already block access to thousands of websites and materials deemed “extremist,” including Islamist content, pro-Ukraine songs, and platforms such as Meta-owned Instagram. The official list also includes non-existent organisations like the “international Satanism movement” and the “international LGBT movement,” alongside more than 5,000 banned items ranging from political slogans and books to artworks and music albums.

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