Pussy Riot Labeled Extremist Organization By Russian Government

The Ministry of Justice in Moscow’s Tverskoy Court has officially classified the Pussy Riot collective as an extremist organization, Dec. 15, 2025. The ruling follows a lawsuit filed by Russia’s Prosecutor General, Alexander Gutsan.

The presiding judge was Maria Moskalenko, who has a history with Pussy Riot, having delivered the verdict that landed Pussy Riot memebrs Ilya Yashin, Alexei Navalny and Peter Verzilov in prison in 2011.

A string of individual charges on members of the collective preceded this latest court decision: Nadya Tolokonnikova was added to the wanted list and arrested in absentia in November 2023; Peter Verzilov was sentenced in absentia in April 2024. Five members, including Maria Alyokhina, Taso Pletner, Olga Borisova, Diana Burkot and Alina Petrova were handed sentences in absentia in September 2025.

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Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolokonnikova commented, “In today’s Russia, telling the truth is extremism. So be it – we’re proud extremists, then. While russian trolls will flip on their VPNs and take to X and Meta to talk shit about Europe and the USA, they cannot even call a war a war. They cannot even tweet or use social media. And they certainly cannot call their president what he is, an aging and impotent loser. Clinging to some bygone dream while he runs his country to ashes, and exports his autocratic and murderous tendencies to the earth like a spreading cancer.

“This court order is designed to erase the very existence of Pussy Riot from the minds of Russians. Owning a balaclava, having our song on your computer, or liking one of our posts could lead to prison time. Pussy Riot has effectively become ‘those who cannot be named’ in Russia – and in countries that cooperate with Russia on extradition: Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, and many others.

“This court order is also meant to sow fear among our allies outside Russia. I’ve already lost many acquaintances who prefer to stay away from someone with putin’s target on her back. As a Russian saying goes, they shove their tongues up their asses — they stay silent out of fear.

“We wear masks because you cannot stamp out an idea. Putin may kill his opponents, but the world still does support truth, progress and justice over the delusional deeds of old decrepit men. The just people of this world stand with democracy, with the sovereignty of Ukraine, with freedom of expression and with a spirit of punk that is to stand up to the bad guy, even when he’s the one with more bombs.”

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Alexey Knedlyakovsky, Pussy Riot member from 2011, commented, “It’s an important event. It’s not every day that an ‘organization’ you remember from its infancy, and to which you devoted so much strength and time, is declared extremist.

“It can mean only one thing: I was extremely right to choose this path — the path of traditional human values: freedom, love, and equality.”

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