Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova added to Russia’s wanted list

Nadya Tolokonnikova, a founding member of the Moscow feminist protest band Pussy Riot, was indicted and added to Russia’s federal wanted list this week after an investigation by its Investigative Committee, as reported by Billboard. Tolokonnikova was named a “foreign agent” by her home country’s Ministry of Justice five years ago. Now, she’s being accused of violating the country’s “foreign agent law.” If arrested, Tolokonnikova could face up to two years in prison. Not only are “foreign agents” of the country ineligible for financial support from the state and banned from much of public life, but they are required to label all produced materials as having been produced by a “foreign agent” and to submit quarterly financial reports and undergo annual audits

In 2023, Tolokonnikova was added to the country’s wanted list for the first time. In 2024, she was found guilty twice for violating foreign agent regulations; later, outside Russia, she allegedly distributed unlabeled materials on a messaging platform. Tolokonnikova is no stranger to the state’s wrath. In 2012, she was arrested for “hooliganism” after she and her bandmate Maria Alyokhina put on in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Tolokonnikova was released in late 2013.

Pussy Riot has long used its platform to advocate against the censorial oppression of the state. The group protested the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and the 2018 World Cup Final in Moscow. In 2022, the group released their debut mixtape, Matriarchy Now. A year after, the group received the Woody Guthrie Prize, awarded annually to “an artist who best exemplifies Woody Guthrie’s spirit and work by speaking for the less fortunate… and serving as a positive force for social change.” Last year, the collective was designated an extremist group by a Russian court and has since made headlines for protesting outside tech company Ubiquiti’s Manhattan headquarters for actions they claimed were “powering Russian war crimes.” 

Tolokonnikova lives outside Russia, though she does not disclose where for safety reasons. Her representatives revealed, however, that the indictment would “not stop her from protesting Russia’s return to Venice Biennale,” the annual international arts, culture, and architecture exhibition slated to begin later this month in the Italian city.

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