Putin’s trigger: Tens years after they first caused the Russian authorities to clutch their pearls, Pussy Riot has been almost entirely forced out of the country

In November 2021, the feminist protest group Pussy Riot turned 10 years old. For the entirety of the group's existence, the Russian authorities (among others) have been trying their damnedest to shut them up. After staging a "punk prayer" in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral in 2012, three Pussy Riot activists were sentenced to two years in prison. After a demonstration at the 2018 World Cup, other Pussy Riot members, who ran onto the field in police uniforms, were arrested -- and the group's unofficial spokesman Pyotr Verzilov was promptly poisoned. In the last two years, arrests and prosecutions targeting Pussy Riot activists have only become more frequent. Just last month, members Maria Alyokhina and Lyusya Shtein went on hunger strike while serving two-week stints in jail. Meduza special correspondent Kristina Safonova spoke with past and present members of the group to find out who exactly they were in 2011 -- and who they are now. Original Article: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/01/12/putin-s-trigger