Pussy Riot respond to being labelled ‘foreign agents’ by Russian government

Two members of Pussy Riot have said they will appeal in court after being labelled “foreign agents” by the Russian government. 

Nadya Tolokonnikova and Nika Nikulshina of the activist group have been branded with the term, which BBC News says “carries a Soviet-era negative taint in Russia, suggesting spying”. Their names were added to an updated list of the country’s foreign agents, along with journalists, satirists, art curators, and more.

Addressing the label on Twitter, the group opened with a disclaimer that all foreign agents must use before tweeting. It read: “THIS MESSAGE (MATERIAL) CREATED AND DISTRIBUTED BY A FOREIGN MASS MEDIA PERFORMING THE FUNCTIONS OF A FOREIGN AGENT. Two of Pussy Riot, Nadya Tolokonnikova and Nika Nikulshina, were added to the government list of ‘foreign agents’ and required to start every tweet w this disclaimer.”

In a second tweet – detailing the group’s “OFFICIAL REACTION” – Pussy Riot added: “1. LOL. 2. We will not label my posts, the government can label their asses if they’d like. 3. We will appeal in court. 4. Russia will be free.”

Russia’s foreign agent law was introduced by president Vladimir Putin in 2012, and was originally used to flag foreign-funded non-profits, but has since been expanded to include media organisations and individuals who engage in political activity, as well as those who study and report on problems within Russia’s military, space agency, and security services, including crime and corruption.

Responding to the news of Pussy Riot’s addition to the list, Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, said: “Increasingly it seems that anyone who criticises the Kremlin’s worsening repression is being tarred a ‘foreign agent’.”

As a feminist protest punk rock band and activist group who speak openly about injustice in Russia, Pussy Riot have faced countless arrests over the years. In August last year – after four members were locked up again in July just hours after being released following their arrests in June – several Pussy Riot activists decided to leave Russia “to take a break from constant arrests for a second”.

Last month, two members were sentenced to two weeks in jail after being found guilty of ‘propagating Nazi smybols online’ in tweets that were up to six years old. The pair have since gone on hunger strike.

For those who want to support Pussy Riot during this difficult time, you can subscribe to founding member Tolokonnikova’s OnlyFans account here. As she said on Twitter: “Have you ever seen a foreign agent with an OnlyFans page before? Me neither.”