‘Pussy riot’ band member dresses as food delivery worker to escape Russia, goes on tour to support Ukraine

Diana Burkot and Anton Ponomarev, members of the Russian art collective and punk band Pussy Riot, rehearsed prior to performing the anti-war music and theatre piece "Riot Days" at Funkhaus Berlin on May 12, 2022 in Germany. Maria Alyokhina has said she will also be performing. The musician was under house arrest in Moscow and was facing a possible prison sentence for helping to organize a political demonstration but managed to escape dressed as a food courier and later made her way to Lithuania via Belarus. Pussy Riot has been very vocal in its opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin, for which members have already served prison time.Sean Gallup/Getty

Russian feminist arts collective and punk rock band Pussy Riot was set to perform for the first time in three years on Thursday, after its lead singer dressed as a food delivery courier to escape house arrest in Moscow.

Speaking in Berlin at the start of a planned 19-show European tour to raise money for victims of the war in Ukraine, Maria Alyokhina, a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin, described her decision to leave Russia as "spontaneous."

It came after Russian authorities announced she would have to serve a 21-day sentence in a penal colony. Alyokhina has been arrested six times over the past year on charges related to her political activism, with Putin expanding an already stifling crackdown on political dissent since his invasion of Ukraine.

More than 4,500 antiwar protesters were arrested during a single day in March, according to one rights group. Meanwhile, even describing the war as a war can be punishable with jail time.

"We want to speak the truth," Alyokhina said. "Those Russians who are aware are already doing all they can and are being imprisoned."

Known for its provocative guerrilla performances, Pussy Riot gained notoriety in February 2012, with the performance of a "punk prayer" critical of Putin at Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Alyokhina and another member of the collective were handed two-year prison sentences.

To enable the tour, Alyokhina "went through various adventures," the collective said on Instagram.

Alyokhina recounted those adventures to the New York Times earlier this week, describing how she donned a food delivery uniform to fool police officers monitoring the apartment where she was staying and left her cellphone behind to avoid being tracked. She then took a circuitous route out of the country via Belarus and Lithuania.

Her girlfriend, Lucy Shtein, revealed a similar escape. "Easy way to get past cops in your driveway," she posted on Instagram, alongside a photograph of herself in a green food delivery outfit.

Thousands of liberal Russians have fled Putin's wartime crackdown.

Olga Borisova, another member of the collective performing on Thursday, said she'd left the country when the war started. Diana Burkot said she'd packed her bags two months ago, but that all members of the group wanted to return.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the concert, Alyokhina was reluctant to dwell on details of how she evaded Russian authorities to leave the country.

“I think the focus should be on Ukraine now and not on me,” she said, calling for countries to stop selling Russia arms and buying its oil.

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