The Pussy Riot activist turned Kremlin informer – podcast

Their opposition to Putin led to two of the group being sent to brutal prison camps. Then another was found to be spying for the Kremlin. Shaun Walker reports It’s January 2012 and Pussy Riot are filming a video in Red Square, Moscow. As snow covers the cobbles and dusts the onion globes of St Basil’s Cathedral, the clock on the Kremlin chimes 11am. Eight women in colourful balaclavas leap on to a stone platform, one with an electric guitar. They start playing their latest song, Putin Has Chickened Out. It’s pretty punchy, with lyrics such as: “The rebellious column is heading to the Kremlin / Windows are exploding in FSB offices.” The group had formed a few months earlier after Vladimir Putin announced that he planned to return to the Kremlin for a third term as president. Inspired by the Arab spring the previous year, they hoped to bring revolution to Russia and stop Putin. Instead, the state cracked down hard. Three Pussy Riot members were found guilty of hooliganism after later protests, with two spending two years in some of Russia’s harshest jails. Continue reading...