Pussy Riot Won’t Quit

Hours after she was freed from jail, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova called on foreign countries to boycott February’s Winter Olympics in Sochi.

She said her release was President Vladimir Putin’s cynical attempt by to buy better publicity for Russia ahead of the 2014 Winter Games.

“What is happening today – releasing people just a few months before their term expires – is a cosmetic measure,” Tolokonnikova explained. “I’m calling for a boycott, for honesty. I’m calling on Western governments not to give in because of oil and gas deliveries from Russia.”

Maria Alyokhina, who was also freed, said the Russian prison system needs wider reform and promised to continue anti-government action.

“Hold on to your seat belts, everything is just starting,” she said.

She also claimed that given the chance, Pussy Riot would have sung the irreverent song in its famous cathedral stunt to the end.

There would be new projects, she promised, using the same methods.

The act’s initial protest was seen as blasphemy by the country’s Orthodox Church.

But their conviction for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” was criticised by rights groups, anti-government activists and foreign politicians.

Yekaterina Samutsevich, the third Pussy Riot member to be jailed, was released on appeal in October 2012. The other two were sentenced to two years and released two months early.