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Maria Alyokhina: The Pussy Riot activist was under house arrest in Russia because of an Instagram post
Photo: Uwe Anspach / dpa
Maria Alyokhina has often come into conflict with the Russian authorities.
Despite multiple arrests and repeated allegations, the activist of the punk band Pussy Riot has stayed in her home country - so far.
According to her lawyer, Alyokhina has now left Russia, although she was most recently under police surveillance.
Alyokhina is no longer on Russian territory, her lawyer Daniil Berman said on Tuesday evening, according to the Interfax agency.
As the New York Times reports, Alyokhina managed to escape with the help of friends.
Accordingly, the activist disguised herself as an employee of a food delivery company.
The newspaper published a selfie of the musician who was critical of the Kremlin.
She can be seen in the green uniform of a delivery service, masked with a scarf and hat, the hood pulled over her face and the thermal backpack for groceries on her back.
In order not to be followed, she left her cell phone in the apartment.
An acquaintance brought her to the border with Belarus in a car and then reached Lithuania after about a week.
According to the New York Times, it took three attempts before Alyokhina was able to cross the Belarusian border.
On her first attempt, she was detained for six hours by Belarusian border guards and then sent back.
On the second try, the incredulous officer on duty sent her away straight away.
At the third attempt, the border crossing to Lithuania was successful.
A friend apparently got travel documents from Europe
Alyokhina received support for her escape from acquaintances from abroad.
The Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson helped an unnamed European country issue her travel documents.
This was given to her in Belarus.
"A lot of magic happened last week," Alyokhina told the New York Times, referring to her escape.
"It sounds like a spy novel." She hopes to return to Russia at some point.
However, she does not know when and how that could happen.
Alyokhina was under house arrest in Russia because of an Instagram post.
In connection with calls for demonstrations for the imprisoned Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, she was sentenced to one year of imprisonment in September 2021.
She was not allowed to leave her apartment at night.
Since the beginning of the year she has been arrested several times in Moscow.
According to the New York Times report, Alyokhina decided to leave the country a few weeks ago.
The reason for this was the announcement by the authorities that they wanted to convert their house arrest into a stay of several weeks in a penal colony.
The announcement was preceded by President Vladimir Putin's increasingly harsh approach to dealing with any criticism of the Ukraine war.
According to the newspaper, this made Alyokhinas want to leave Russia, at least temporarily.
Alyokhina denies Russia's right to exist
"I'm glad I made it," the activist is quoted as saying in the New York Times.
"I still don't fully understand what I did," she said.
Thirty-three-year-old Alyokhina has spent her adult life campaigning for Russia to respect its own constitution and the most basic of human rights, including freedom of expression.
Their actions were often perceived as a provocation in the Kremlin.
In 2012 she was sentenced to two years in a prison camp with her bandmate Nadezhda Tolokonnikova.
She had protested against President Putin in a church.
Ten years after the church protest, Russia invaded Ukraine.
The invasion, Alekhina told the New York Times, changed everything, not just for her but for her country.
"I don't think Russia still has a right to exist," she said.
“Even before that, there were questions about what unites the country, what values bind it together and where it is headed.
But now I think that's no longer a question."
asc/dpa
