Maria Aliukhina, a member of the Russian protest group Pussy Riot, claimed on Wednesday that she had managed to leave Russia, after deceiving police by posing as a meal-delivery girl.
The activist thus joins the thousands of Russians who have left the country since the start of the Russian offensive on Ukraine on February 24.
Last September, Maria Aliukina was sentenced to one year in prison from “restrictions” on her freedom (judicial surveillance, night curfews, a ban on leaving Moscow) for calling for a demonstration against the arrest of the main Russian opponent Alexei Navalny.
At the end of April, the Russian judiciary hardened these measures by replacing them with a prison sentence, during a hearing in which Ms. Aliukhina was not present.
in an interview in The New York TimesMaria Aliukina, 33, said on Wednesday that she managed to leave Moscow disguised as a meal-delivery girl, leaving her mobile phone to prevent police from tracking her.
Then I crossed the border into neighboring Belarus, and a week later I managed to cross into Lithuania, after several attempts, according to the interview.
“I was pleased to get there, because it is a big and unexpected ‘farewell kiss’ for the Russian authorities,” she joked to The New York Times.
His companion, Lioussia Chteïn, who is also a member of Pussy Riot, posted on Twitter a photo of Maria Alioukhana in the green uniform of the delivery men at the Delivery Club, a bag for delivering meals on her back.
Stein noted on Twitter that Alyokhina “did not flee Russia, she went on tour”, which will start with a concert on May 12 in Berlin to raise funds for Ukraine.
She was also sentenced to restrictions on freedom in connection with the protests against the arrest of Alexei Navalny, and Lucia Stein left Russia in April.
Longtime Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina previously served a two-year sentence for performing a “punk prayer” at Russia’s main church – the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow – in 2012.
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